


A Way Out

by Urdnot Wrecks (Urdnot_Wrecks)



Category: The Technomancer (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Sex, Asceticism, Bisexual Male Character, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Canon Gay Character, Canon Gay Relationship, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Child Soldiers, Comfort, Developing Relationship, Dorks in Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Established Relationship, Friendship, Gay Male Character, Gay Sex, Hallucinogens, Hugs, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Underage Sex, Injury, Intimacy, Jeffrey point of view, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Masturbation, Medical Jargon, Meeting the Parents, Mutant Valley (The Technomancer), Mutual Masturbation, Noctis (The Technomancer), Ophir (The Technomancer), Oral Sex, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prostitution, Rituals, Sex, Sex Worker, Shower Sex, Strangers to Lovers, Swearing, Tattoos, The Exchange (The Technomancer), The Slums (The Technomancer), This story is going to be a monster, Threesome - M/M/M, Undercover, Use of Headcanon(s), Worldbuilding, favorite soldier boys having some fun together, give me my worldbuilding or give me death, mutant culture, not beta'ed we die like technomancers, set Abundance on fire, that may or may not be accurate, they deserve to be happy, twenty headcanons in a trenchcoat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:34:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 48,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26338837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Urdnot_Wrecks/pseuds/Urdnot%20Wrecks
Summary: An AU set in the game’s canon universe, where Jeff makes some different choices.  Of course he still chooses Dave.  It begins before Zach enters the Ophir barracks, and concludes after the end of the game; and is told through Jeff’s eyes.  The plot intersects with that of the game at various points; where necessary, the game’s story has been modified to fit.  There is a plot, of course; but the journey is more important than the destination.
Relationships: Andrew Mancer | Lucky/Zachariah Mancer, Jeffrey Hunter/David Ward (The Technomancer)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 6





	1. The Rookie

You arrived at the barracks about an hour ago, a raw recruit from Greenhope.

You’d got through your fortnight of basic training reasonably well before you arrived: now your first taste of real Army life.

You’d carefully scrutinised your appearance and organised your kit so it would pass inspection; you’d polished the toes of your boots so well that they positively gleamed.

Sadly, all this effort was wasted; the barracks was under lock-down as you arrived, and the officer in charge, Captain Eliza Major, was busy.

The Captain didn’t rise from her desk, but she did at least look up.

“Welcome to my unit, Hunter. Sorry I can’t induct you properly just now: we’re searching for missing soldiers as I speak. I’ll brief you later when there’s time. Find Private David Ward. I’ve assigned him as your buddy.”

You need to ask around, as you don’t know anyone; fortunately you find a helpful man behind a counter, Ryan Steward, who is able to point you in the right direction.

Conscious that you have to get this right, you walk up to the soldier he indicated as boldly as a rookie like yourself could.

“Er, Private David? Captain told me to find you. Tells me you’ve been assigned as my buddy.”

You can tell immediately that Dave is surprised, and unpleasantly so.

“What? Fucking news to me. Do I look like a nurse-maid? 

Dave sighs loudly and starts to pace round the dorm.

“Why am I asked to look after some kid who’s still wearing diapers? Fucking Army bullshit. Has this newbie learned to wipe his own ass yet?”

Despite his outburst, you manage your own expression well: you retain your bright eyes and enthusiastic smile, just as a rookie should.

Dave stops and draws a deep breath.

“Yeah, sorry, Rookie, not your fault. We’re all tense under lock-down. Worried about what’s happened to our brother soldiers. Name’s David Ward.”

He shakes your hand in a brusque sort of way.

“Jeffrey Hunter. Really proud to be serving in the Army at last, Private David. Been looking forward to this moment ever since I enlisted.”

Dave looks at you in a pitying way; he probably had the same shine and hope when he joined up, too.

“Call me Dave, Rookie. So what’s your story?”

So you go through your background: you’re a Hunter from Greenhope, a beautiful place you really loved. You talk about your experience hunting critters that were causing problems for the local farmers. You’re just about to start talking about that blue-eyed girl you wanted to impress, when Dave interrupts.

“Sounds like it was a good life, Rookie. Prepare yourself for a shit one from now on in. I bet you a bunch of serum that the happy smile you’re wearing now will be wiped off your face within two weeks. No, make that one week.

“You know that we have some soldiers missing at the minute?”

You nod. Dave continues, “One of the missing guys is Boris Ward; he was my Sergeant for a few years after I joined up. Great soldier, taught me everything I know about the military. Guy saved my life more than once. Think he believed in me; I’d happily have taken a bullet for him. Now he’s missing, and we don’t know what’s happened to him. I’m fucking worried sick.”

You let your face fall, appropriately. Of course you realise that Dave’s grumpiness isn’t directed at you: he seems quite genuinely upset. Some raw recruits would have been hurt or disillusioned to be treated like this; but of course you’re not.

Dave pulls himself together a little. “They got you a bunk and a locker yet, Rookie?”

You shake your head as though it hadn’t occurred to you that you need them.

“Okay, you stay here. I’ll go see Ryan… no, wait, you tag along too.”

So you’re back to the helpful man behind the desk, who issues you a locker key.

“With folk missing, we’ve got a few free bunks; what do you suggest, Dave?”

“Give the rookie a bunk near me, I guess. Don’t know what the drill is, but I imagine we’ll be working together; if we’re on the same shifts, makes sense for him to be nearby.”

“Okay, Dave: bunk seven?”

“Yeah, should do fine.”

You aren’t consulted about this, but you don’t expect to be. Turns out that bunk seven is one diagonally opposite Dave’s.

  


That afternoon, Dave starts by taking you round the Exchange. Rules are that soldiers never go out alone; there’s a good chance that the missing guys have been attacked or kidnapped.

Dave acknowledges the soldiers he meets, knows the names of a few of them; but there’s no sign that he has any friends here.

There’s one interesting conversation: man in uniform near the station starts chatting to Dave, asks why he never sees him nowadays… perhaps meet up when the current emergency’s over?

The same guy says a few encouraging things to you, too… seems decent. But Dave is cold and snappy (perhaps a bit less than he was when he met you).

After your tour (where nothing eventful happens), you head back to the barracks.

“Right, Rookie, shown you everything in the Exchange. Train station, market, archives, Source, lots of checkpoints, and that’s about it. Typical boring fucking place for the privileged. Take you somewhere more interesting tomorrow.”

But you’re already realising something about Dave: although he grumbles the whole time, he actually does what he is supposed to do.

Next morning you head for the Slums.

Once there, Dave seems a little more at ease, which surprises you: rather a dangerous brew of folk in this deprived area, which seems very much under the thumb of a gang that you find out is called the Vory.

You tackle a maze of side-streets, and Dave knocks on the door of a shack in a dark area. There’s the sound of several locks being turned, and a thin, pale woman opens the door.

For the first time since you met him, Dave smiles (though not at you, of course). “Hi, Mom. How are you?”.

Mrs Ward smiles. “Lovely to see you, David. Who’s that with you?”

“They’ve given me a newbie to look after; Jeff only joined the barracks yesterday. Say hello, Rookie.”

This is a bit of an unknown area for you, so you stutter something polite.

“First time our David’s been assigned a buddy,” she says. “Nice to meet you, Jeff… Are you coming in, dear?”

“Sorry, Ma, not allowed to do that while we’re on duty. Be glad when things get a bit more normal.”

There’s a quiet rumbling from within and a man, about the same age as Dave’s mother, appears in a wheelchair.

“How’s it going, Dad?”

Dave’s father pulls a strange face.

“Your father’s a little better these days, David. They’ve finally given him back his medication, but he still gets very tired and low.”

Dave’s father speaks, “So they got you wet-nursing this young guy? Thought you’d been in too long for that.” His voice is very weak and wheezy.

“Like to think so, Dad, but Army don’t seem to agree. Goes with still being a fucking Private after all these years.”

“Look, son, you’re a decent soldier. Things will work out.”

“Believe it when I see it, Dad. Almost forgot, Ma: here’s this month’s serum for you. Soldiers getting short pay these days, but I’ll not have you two going without.”

“You’re a good boy, David… we’d be really struggling without your help. Wait a minute… I’ve got something for you.”

And she produces a glass bottle with no label, containing a clear honey-coloured liquid.

“Your own make, Ma? That’s just great. Cheer me up on evenings in the barracks.

“Sorry we gotta be off… we can only take a few minutes before someone notices we’re not on patrol. You two take care, right? I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

And he hugs his mother, salutes his father, turns and walks away quickly without looking back. You study Dave’s face, but it’s a closed book.

You turn a few more corners, go down some stairs, and you’re in a large courtyard; the well-lit frontage of a bar takes up the side opposite you, small Army base to your left.

“The Curiosity’s, Rookie. When times were better, used to drink myself silly in there. Don’t have anything else that’s good in my life, do I? Can’t even fucking do that now with the lock-down in place. Shit!”

You look at Dave (carefully; you don’t want to provoke him by examining him too closely), and he looks like a lost man.

And now something interesting happens: your training, and your own mind, form different views. Your training aims to preserve your operational effectiveness: you must never, ever, feel sympathy for anyone else, lest you get squeamish when ordered to kill them.

However, your own mind feels sorry for Dave: and you see his brusqueness as a response to what he sees (possibly rightly) as his own mistreatment.

Dave shakes his head, presumably to clear it, and says, “Come on, Rookie.” And you head back to the barracks.

  


A short while into your posting to the barracks at Ophir, you wake about an hour before dawn and can’t get back to sleep. Everyone else still seems to be snoring, so, figuring you might as well move, you make for the showers.

To your surprise, and his, you find Dave, pleasuring himself under the hot water.

The look on Dave’s face is interesting… carefully neutral. Not ashamed, not bold… relaxed? Maybe… inviting? It’s not clear.

You really aren’t sure quite how to play this; but then your sleepy brain remembers: you’re supposed to be a rookie. So you pretend to ignore Dave’s arousal, hang up your towel, and simply say, “Morning, Dave.”

Leave the field open: see what Dave’s up to. (The part of your brain that remembers your training reminds you that sexually aroused folk will quite often drop their guard; a potential source of useful information.)

“Woke up early with a boner, Rookie… you feel like giving me a hand?”

You deliberately look blankly innocent, so Dave continues, “Standard soldier procedure, Rookie: you give me a hand; I give you a hand; that’s all there is to it.”

You look at Dave very carefully then. The offer seems to be genuine; but Dave isn’t pushing things; he does really seem to be giving you a choice. (One possibility you’d considered is that he’d try to force himself on you. That had happened in a past you desperately want to forget.)

Putting your training to one side, you decide to do what you want. So you smile your disarming rookie smile, and move towards Dave. You place your hands, apparently tentatively, either side of Dave’s body, and very slowly start to slide them over his flesh, keeping your eyes on Dave’s face to judge his reaction.

You’ve guessed correctly. Dave would have welcomed a simple hand-job; but what he really wanted was touch. Dave sighs quietly, closes his eyes, and gives himself over to your ministrations.

It’s only when Dave is shuddering and groaning under your touch, and begging you to finish him off, that you bring him to release.

Dave is quiet for a good few seconds; quite possibly he can’t actually say anything. When he finally recovers his composure, he says, almost in a whisper, “Shit, Rookie, you know your stuff.”

Of course touching Dave’s body like that has left you almost painfully aroused; Dave gives you the hand he promised.

As you’re drying yourselves, Dave says, “Think you got it right, Rookie; I was really missing being touched. Hadn’t realised.”

“There’s an hour or so before the dorm wakes up. Gotta suggestion, don’t feel you have to say yes… fancy bunking up until then?”

And quite unconsciously, you smile. And consciously, you blush. (Your training included learning to blush at will: it’s a very effective tactic at times like this.)

“No need to be embarrassed, Rookie: Army’s cool about soldiers sharing bunks. Whether it’s a one-off quickie, or a marriage. Guess the brass would say that it’s good for unit cohesion.

Dave puts on a fake (and actually surprisingly good) officer accent, “All these fit young troops, full of hormones. It’s going to happen anyway; they may as well be open about doing it.”

At which you laugh.

But you also remember your training: you were encouraged to fool around sexually with others in your squad, just to let off steam. But there was no privacy: all designed to have you sexually experienced (in case you were needed for a seduction mission) but lonely. So your loyalty was never endangered by something (to them) as trivial as a relationship.

So sharing a bunk with Dave is a new experience in more ways than one. And a very enjoyable one for you both (you don’t discuss it, but you just know). You don’t have any further sexual contact, just enjoying the closeness of each other’s bodies. But you both need to conceal your stiffies when the dorm finally wakes and you have to get up.

Just then, Rich, who sleeps in the bunk immediately above Dave, announces to the whole dorm, “Hey, guys! Did we have an earthquake or something? My bunk started shaking so hard I thought it was going to bust; and there were these loud, really weird grunting and screaming noises coming from below me.

“Yeah, fuck you too Rich,” says Dave.

Rich replies deadpan, “I wasn’t the one getting fucked, Davie.”

Dave pulls a livid face and shakes his fist in Rich’s direction; then they both smile and relax. It’s all a joke. Which Dave continues.

“Hey dorm! Found out yesterday that Rich gets disability benefits. Not shitting: document was on the Captain’s desk. He’s qualified because his wiener is shorter than 5 millimetres.”

Rich laughs. “Okay, Davie, I guess you deserve to get one back.”

  


You’re sitting at breakfast next to Dave with another one of the dorm, Carl, just opposite you. Carl grins and says, “So, Davie, you getting our new guy licked into shape?”

“For fuck’s sake, Carl! Am I never going to live this one down?”

“No, Davie, you certainly aren’t.”

And Carl winks at you. Dave goes off to get more coffee, as always at breakfast.

“So… it’s Jeff, isn’t it; how’s it going, Jeff?”

You look down and act rather nervous and shy. “I hope I’m doing well enough, Carl. I really want to make this posting work.”

“Don’t think you need to worry about that. Seen you practising on the shooting range; my late buddy, poor bastard, was a marksman, and you look to be at least as good as he was. And you’ve only just joined up! Think you’re going to be a real asset to the Army, you know.

“Keep at it: and don’t mind that we keep pulling your leg. It’s all part of being a soldier.

“So why did you join up, Jeff?”

Carl’s interest seems genuine and kindly. Of course you know your official cover story, and in the past you would have followed it to the letter. But you see no reason not to make a trivial change to your cover; in this case, the gender of your sweetheart back in Greenhope. It’s a small act of defiance, but you figure you need to make a start somewhere.

“There was a lad I was sweet on back in Greenhope, really loved men in uniform. So I joined up. Maybe he’ll notice me when I’m next back home.”

“Everybody loves a soldier, Jeff. Sure your guy’s going to be all over you when he sees what you’re becoming.

Carl leans a little closer and drops his voice.

“One other thing, Jeff: you’ve really helped Davie. I don’t mean just by giving him a hand-job in the showers today.”

You turn on your blush again. Carl smiles.

“Don’t worry, Jeff… barracks is so tightly knit that everyone knows everything. We never stop teasing each other. And lots of us have exchanged hand-jobs during lock-down; trust me on that one.

“No… it’s just that Davie’s obviously feeling happier with you around. He got real down a while back, hitting the booze like there was no tomorrow. We all tried talking to him but he just gave us the fuck-off.

“Thing is Davie didn’t seem to care, about anything. Then you appeared. He started to take an interest in your training, and we could see that he took pride in what you achieved. And perhaps some of that pride rubbed off on Davie as well.

“Deep down, Davie’s a good man, and an honest and just one too. He’d not like my saying that, and sadly I don’t think he believes it himself. But I think it’s true.

“You’re training hard, Jeff, and you’re really fitting in. And you’re helping Davie, so… keep up the good work.”

He claps you hard on the shoulder and then gets up and leaves, just as Dave returns with his third coffee of the morning.


	2. The Mancer

A new Lieutenant appears in the barracks: Zachariah Mancer. He seems young; probably about the same age as Dave. You remember an elderly Mancer in Greenhope, but you’ve never worked alongside a Mancer in the military before.

Dave’s view is scathing.

“Fucking ‘Lieutenant’. Shows up here with his pretty title and knows shit about being a real soldier. Me, I’m in the Army five full years and still a fucking Private.

“These guys go to their little private schools, cut off from the rest of us, then they show up all clean and well-fed and with their weird-ass powers and just take other officers’ positions without earning them.

“They don’t have a damn clue what war is; never been to the front lines. I even fought alongside some of those so-called ‘masters’; day in and day out we fought together. And day in and day out they had more respect for the Mancers working for our damn enemies than they ever did for us.

“Yeah, guess they have useful abilities; but we don’t have to like ’em. And I don’t.

“You noticed that Mancers smell, Rookie? Scent of ozone follows them around like a fly round a joint of meat.

“And another thing: Mancers have plans of their own, often do things that the Army brass doesn’t know about. You just watch, and you’ll see it happen.”

It seems that Dave was right about that: several of the missions the Lieutenant leads aren’t cleared with the Captain.

One morning, for example, the three of you head off to a rather dingy clinic in the Slums. Just before you go in, Dave remembers: his father used to come here for treatment until a few years ago.

It seems the Lieutenant and the Doctor know each other well. “Zach my boy! Good to see you! Army life treating you well?”

“Early days, Scott; just tidying up on loose ends before the real work starts, I suppose. See the clinic’s not changed much over the years; first time I’ve been here since I was a child, I think.

“It’s a good place to be, my boy! I love this neighbourhood. It’s lively, and it has all I need… bars and, err, patients…”

“So the booze is still the most important thing… sorry to hear that.”

The old man gets visibly angry. “You’re not going to lecture me, when you yourself take focus drugs and other sorts of crap on a regular basis! I don’t drink that much over the recommended limit… steadies my hand when I’m doing surgery… and it’s too late at my age anyway…”

There’s a rather frosty silence; broken by a surprising intervention from Dave. “Glad to see you, Doc. Remember you looking after my father very well all those years.”

“How’s your father keeping, Dave?”

“Not too good… had problems getting his meds recently.”

“Damned bureaucracy! They stopped me prescribing your father’s medication, along with anything else potentially addictive in case… well…”

With things a little calmer, the Lieutenant and the Doctor start discussing someone the Doctor’s looking for. As you leave, Dave thanks the Doctor again for caring for his father.

  


“So, Rookie, dorm gossip is that you’re gay. That right?” asks Dave in a quiet moment. You’re turned towards each other, both resting one shoulder against a wall whilst the Lieutenant is reassuring the missing professor’s former assistant.

You look over towards Dave carefully. Shit. Your training is telling you that you’re in this mess because you changed your cover: you said you had a guy waiting for you, your cover said it was a girl. And for once, you admit ruefully, following your training would have been the right decision.

However, having dug this hole for yourself, you figure you may as well stay in it. But this strategy is not without risk: even now, some straight men can respond violently if they find out the man they’ve (happily) had sex with isn’t straight.

“Yeah, that’s right. Look, Dave…”

Dave smiles, stands away from the wall, and puts a large but friendly hand on each of your shoulders. “It’s okay, Rookie; it’s entirely cool.”

And for the first time since you’ve known him, Dave seems to be struggling for words; almost as if he’s shy. But then he continues.

“Never been with another guy myself, if we discount the odd hand-job. But guess I always was interested in guys too. Can’t do the body-building I do and not notice other guys’ bodies and compare my own to theirs.

“I’ve always found myself popular with women, and of course there are far more women than men who want to do it with a man. So didn’t really do anything about it. Not until now. But… here you are. Handy having someone enthusiastic around at close quarters, you know? Shortens the time between wanting and getting.”

And Dave takes any possible sting out of that remark by winking at you. “But only if you’re agreeable; I never take anyone’s consent for granted.

“Another thing that matters to me: this doesn’t get in the way of our doing our jobs.

“Happy to do a bit of my own exploring with you, though. What do you think?”

You turn on the blush, which seems appropriate for a rookie at this moment. But then you grin, slightly sheepishly, and say, “Yeah, sure Dave; that would be good.”

And cheekily you add, “You’re a lot better looking than my right hand, in any case.”

You get into the habit, if either of you wakes early, of checking on each other: and if you’re both awake and agreeable, heading for the privacy of the empty showers.

  


There’s an afternoon when the duty rota sends Dave out patrolling with Carl; first time you remember him not patrolling with you. The barracks is pretty well deserted when Eliza Major calls you over to her desk.

You stand to attention with your trademark, “At your command, Captain.”

“How’s it going, Hunter? Soldier life suiting you?”

“Very much so, Captain. Got a lot to learn, but folk are being generous with their time and advice. Particularly Private David; learning a lot from him.”

“You two certainly seem to be forming a strong team; good mix of skills between you. Private David even seems a bit less morose these days, which is a relief.

“One thing I wanted to check. It’s no secret that you and Private David are sexually involved, at least to some extent.”

You blush and pull a slightly surprised face, but the Captain immediately says, “Give me some credit, Hunter. I know what goes on when randy soldiers are confined to barracks. And I do listen to the chit-chat around me; I know much more about what’s going on than you might believe.

“This is important, so listen up. I want to check that Private David is treating you fairly, and in particular, that you’re freely consenting to what’s going on with him. I want to be sure that he’s not using his experience to cajole you into something you don’t want. If you have any concerns, now is the time to share them. I’m the only one who’ll hear what you say.”

You realise that Eliza Major is a very different sort of commander from the ones you’re used to: there’s a thoroughly decent human being underneath the extremely efficient CO who lives and breathes for the Army.

“I’m completely happy with the way Private David treats me, Captain. He always asks my consent; and he’s concerned for my pleasure as well as his own.”

“Good to hear, and frankly I’m not surprised; Private David always struck me as being a decent man under that brooding exterior.

“Personally, I think friendship, love, even just pleasure, are rare enough that they should be encouraged, not just tolerated. So carry on the two of you. But if at any stage you have concerns, Hunter, you let me know.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

And after this conversation, the duty rota always has you and Dave patrolling together.

  


You’re not far from heading for bed when the Captain summons you, Dave and the Lieutenant.

“I have a new mission for the three of you, starting 0600 hours tomorrow. The ASC have located the missing soldiers.

“Turns out they’ve deserted, presumably intending to flee like rats through the city’s underground. That won’t happen. You find them, and you eliminate them.

“And their leader… I can’t believe I’m saying this… is Boris Ward. Used to be a Sergeant, and a balls-out one at that. Even trained some of our own troops. In fact, didn’t you train with him, Private David?”

Dave looks completely shocked. But after clearing his throat, he replies quietly, “Yes, ma’am. And he was my Sergeant at the front for a couple years. Fought at lot for Abundance…”

Cutting him short, the Captain continues, “Boris Ward’s contingent have been tracked to a confined area in the Underworks; no point sending a large squad into so small area, they’d be useless. A small group has to go in and take those traitors out. Decision’s been made to launch the assault tomorrow morning, so the squad won’t have too much trouble with the nocturnal creatures in the Underworks: they should be dormant by then.

“Group will be your team, Lieutenant: you, Ward, Hunter. Got a good balance of skills there: Hunter’s very new, but a good marksman will be a big help.

“And I’m sorry, Ward, but I chose to put you on the team quite deliberately. If the deserter Sergeant sees someone he knows ready to fight against him, it might make him think. Now, Ward, you are going to follow orders on this, and you’re going to kill him. Am I clear?”

You watch Dave’s face working to conceal his feelings. He says, rather faintly, “Yes, Captain.”

Eliza Major never speaks overtly kindly, but she does acknowledge Dave’s concern. “Good. I know it won’t be easy for you.”

The Lieutenant mentions the Mancer code of preserving life, and says he’d prefer not to have to kill the deserters if there’s any other way.

The Captain says she understands, but insists that “a lesson needs to be learned. Boris Ward will die, either at your hands, or as the result of a court-martial. The former makes less of a scandal, and the Army is already being scrutinised by unfriendly eyes; scandal is something we can’t afford. So you make sure he dies quiet and in the dark.”

“A reminder: mission starts 0600. It’s important. Dismissed.”

Word about the mission gets round the barracks fast; Dave isn’t the only one to have known Boris Ward. Moreover, the lock-down will probably end once the missing soldiers are accounted for.

Dave disappears; you eventually find him in a dark corner of the exercise yard and sit beside him. He’s silent for a long time; then he just says, “Need someone to hold me tonight, Rookie. You okay with that?”

“Yeah, sure, Dave,” you reply, gently.

So again you share Dave’s bunk, this time for a full night. Nothing sexual happens; you spoon around Dave, who’s curled into a foetal ball.

And, for once, no-one in the dorm passes any comment.

  



	3. The Deserters

You, Dave and the Lieutenant leave the barracks at 0600 sharp for the assignment. As you’re on the way, Dave, quite unexpectedly, asks the Lieutenant for permission to speak. Dave has not normally been silent about the Mancer; on the contrary, he’s continued a stream of talk about him, mostly not of the complimentary kind.

You stop, and the Lieutenant says, “Permission granted, Private David.”

“Thing is, Lieutenant, Boris Ward and I go back a long way. He was my Sergeant when I was at the front. Not a place like any you’ve ever seen, Lieutenant. Saved my ass with his good advice and good orders many times; actually physically saved my life twice.

“He’s a man I’d take a bullet for in the regular run of things, see? Now I know that the Army gets you to do lots of shit you don’t like, and whilst I don’t find that fun, I’m a soldier first and foremost.

“But what I would like to ask, Sir” (and here Dave actually makes the word sound respectful) “is that we talk to Boris Ward first. If it’s at all possible to get him to stand down, I want to give him that chance.

“But as Boris always said, ‘in the end, you have to obey your fucking orders.’ So I will follow your commands, Lieutenant. But… well I just don’t want to kill a good man in cold blood.”

The Lieutenant looks carefully at Dave. “The Mancer code is strictly to avoid the taking of life if at all possible, soldier. And yes, I don’t want blood on my hands either. Know that’s not the Army’s usual way, but I have to live with the conflict between the two codes. Providing it’s possible, I will talk to Boris Ward before we attack. And if on my instructions, and only then, you talk to Boris Ward and he stands down, it’s all to the good.

“But let me be clear, soldier: if you betray our unit, I will have no hesitation about killing you.”

After years of the viciousness of your training, this remark doesn’t strike you as at all strange.

Dave simply says, “Thank you, Lieutenant.”

And you carry on, all of you unwillingly, until you’re outside the door to the last known location of Boris Ward.

“Okay, men, a reminder: Boris Ward is a traitor and a deserter. By all means let’s try to avoid violence; but we need to remember that our loyalty is to Abundance.”

You think it’s actually not a bad speech for someone as new to the Army as the Lieutenant. You can’t really see how Dave responds at the minute.

The Lieutenant opens the door forcefully.

Inside, the Sergeant, carrying a powerful semi-automatic. And three comrade deserters, all of them armed with short-range weapons. They’re looking fierce and determined; this won’t be an easy fight at all.

“They got you here, Dave? We went through a lot together, and now they send you here to kill me?”

“Look, Sarge, I don’t like it one bit. But as you often said, ‘sometimes you just have to obey your fucking orders’”.

Boris Ward and the Lieutenant exchange some words; it’s clear that violence isn’t going to be averted.

You wait for the Lieutenant to give the word. Which he does: “Okay, let’s do thi…”

Before the Lieutenant finishes speaking, you fire your gun at the weapon the Sergeant is holding: he curses as it flies out of his hands and lands, bent and useless, on the floor. The Sergeant cradles his gun hand, which is injured and quite possibly broken.

There’s a strange pause where no-one seems to know exactly what to do.

At this point, to your surprise and the Lieutenant’s, Dave calls out, “Stand your guys down, Sarge. You see we’ve got an expert marksman and a Mancer here. Your short-range guys will all be dead before they get close enough to touch us. Blood-bath or surrender; your choice.”

And give him his due, the Sergeant is quick to deal with the change of circumstances.

“Yeah, you’re right Dave… stand down, crew! I repeat: stand down!”

Once the rebels have surrendered their weapons, everyone relaxes, and you await the backup squad that will take the rebels into custody.

Dave goes over to talk to Boris and to inspect his injured hand: he does this openly, and quite carefully, so the Lieutenant can see that exactly what he’s doing. (You’d trust Dave to do the right thing yourself, of course, but the Lieutenant doesn’t know him as well as you do.)

Dave returns to the Lieutenant and asks permission to speak.

“Our captive Boris Ward has sustained an injury, Lieutenant. With your permission, I’d like to accompany him to the medics. I know it’s standard practice to let the backup squad take care of this, but I’d be grateful if you allowed me to do so. Boris Ward was a soldier I respected, very good to me in the past.”

The Mancer nods. “Very good, soldier.”

The medical team, when you get to them, find that Boris’ hand is badly bruised and cut, but not broken. He’s bandaged up and readied for arrest.

“We need to be getting back to the barracks and making our report, soldier,” says the Lieutenant. “I’ll give you one more minute.”

So Dave and Boris, quite formally, stand silently and face each other; they salute; and then Dave turns and walks away and doesn’t look back.

  


As the three of you head back to the barracks, the Mancer halts you in a quiet spot.

“Think we did well today. If I were a stickler for doing things by the book, I suppose I would be reprimanding you, Hunter, for firing before I’d finished speaking; and you, Ward, for speaking to the enemy without waiting for my permission. But I’m saying nothing. The Captain’s not going to be very pleased with the outcome, but I’m prepared to take the flak. 

“At least no-one died today; and without your marksmanship, Jeff, I think someone probably would have done. How on earth did you fire that shot without sighting your rifle?”

“Old Hunter trick from when I was shooting critters. My gun has a prismatic sight; enables me to aim it even at hip level. Some of the more intelligent critters think they’re safe if a human has a gun at waist level; they’re a bit surprised when I fire.”

  


It’s been a hard day, emotionally and physically, and you’re glad to be back in the dorm in the barracks. A few soldiers who were on night shift are sleeping in the dorm, but it’s otherwise quiet. 

Dave does something he’s only rarely done for you before: he smiles. “We did a good job today. Without your gun skills I think we’d be looking at deaths on both sides. Still fucked off about Boris, but he is at least still alive. Neither of us did exactly as we were told, but it worked out about as well as it could, I guess.”

You pad behind Dave to the deserted showers. Walking behind him, you’re reminded of just how good his body smells.

Once you’re there, Dave says, “Oh, and, Rookie… thanks for looking out for me last night. Found it fucking tough… having you there made all the difference.” 

You start to say, “Glad I could help…” when Dave does something else unexpected: he leans across and kisses you. The kiss doesn’t exactly start tentatively, and turns into something very full-on very quickly. There’s a short pause.

“You taste good, Rookie! First time I kissed a man; wanna try it again.”

And he kisses you long, hard and slow.

And then, again to your surprise, Dave starts kissing his way down your body. He’s nibbling and sucking and licking in all sorts of sensitive places; when he reaches your groin, he starts using his mouth on absolutely everything he can reach.

You’re astonished that Dave, who says he’s never been with a man before, can be so damn good at this. In fact he’s so good you wish you could just let go and enjoy the attention; your training keeps reminding you that a good agent stays focused at all times. A pity.

After what seems a delicious eternity, Dave takes you in his mouth and, taking his time again, brings you to a release that you now desperately need. And swallows.

The pleasure is so overwhelming that, despite all your struggling to stay in control, you actually lose focus for a second or two.

You recover to see Dave’s face in front of yours, smiling again.

“Still think you taste good, Rookie,” he says, and kisses you deeply once more.

You’re almost lost for words, but manage to say, “How…?”

“I really never have done that to a man before, Rookie; but I know what I like when someone does it to me. So I gave you some of the things I really enjoy. Reckon you deserve a bit of a treat after today.

“Wanna do me? You’d be welcome.”

You need no second invitation. The water from the shower has diluted Dave’s scent, but his skin still tastes wonderful. It’s only now that you’re so close to Dave’s body that you realise how very very much you’ve wanted this.

Dave’s body starts to rock rhythmically as his excitement grows; so you draw back slightly to give him the pleasure of thrusting into your mouth. And his climax is delicious.

“Fuck, Rookie; I needed that. Actually, I think we both needed that.”

And you smile and wink in agreement. Getting your mouth so close to Dave’s body is something like a dream come true.

“Think you’ve left me with a bit of stubble burn in some sensitive areas, Rookie; didn’t reckon I’d be exfoliated as well as blown.”

“Yeah, sorry Dave… I’ll get back to shaving properly.”

“Don’t you dare do that, soldier; I like the feeling. The burn reminds me I just had a wonderful time.”

  



	4. End of Lockdown

The lock-down is finally over, to everyone’s immense relief. You’re surprised (and very pleased) to see that the duty rosters give you and Dave forty-eight hours of leave, starting at noon tomorrow. The Lieutenant must have arranged this; you can’t imagine the Captain doing that after the round-up of the deserters didn’t end as she’d wished.

But in a way, you feel sad. End of lock-down will almost certainly mean Dave heading back to The Curiosity’s and back to the attention of delighted females; you actually smile a little at the thought of Dave having so much fun, but it’s a sad smile.

“So Jeff, what are you going to be doing for leave?”

“Not really got any plans, Dave… don’t really know anyone here apart from folk in the barracks. Trains to Greenhope take a couple days, so can’t head there and be back in time. Perhaps I’ll just do a bit of shooting in the Underworks; lots of critters there with a bounty on their heads. At least it’ll help pay the train fare when I do have time to get home.” 

“Wanna spend some time with me?” You’re actually so surprised that your jaw drops (some of that, admittedly, was down to your cover).

“Mean it, Rookie; be nice to have you around. Not got too much of a plan myself; was going to call in on my folks, then go to The Curiosity’s in the evening. No particular plan for the rest of the leave… but if you’re willing, I know you know a lot about the desert, being from Greenhope. Never been in the desert apart from in a rover; be interested to see it. Have a night out there, maybe?”

“Sure! That would be great, Dave… thanks…”

“Thank me later; we’ll see how we get on. Thought you might want some company as you’re so far from home. My Ma cooks well, particularly when she’s feeding soldiers; and you look like you could do with eating some proper food, not the crap the mess produces. I’ll introduce you as a pal from the dorm.”

You’d certainly not expect Dave to have introduced you to his family as a boyfriend (and you don’t feel that’s the case, at least yet); but it’s good to know your status for the family visit.

  


So at noon, you leave the barracks with Dave; both of you in uniform, you in the well-shined boots you wore on your first day at the barracks. You’ve left your gun locked in Ryan Steward’s stores; Dave says that he’s never parted from his weapons. “Never know when I’ll need them, Rookie; though I see why carrying around a gun like yours would be a bad idea.”

“Remember my rookie pal, Jeff? Brought him here for some proper good home cooking.” This is Dave’s greeting when his mother opens the door of their shack. You’re a little nervous about how things will turn out, but the visit is a delight. Dave’s parents clearly dote on him. There’s a picture in pride of place on the wall: a very young Dave, his parents looking happy and well, the father proudly in military uniform, a tiny babe in his arms. Presumably the sister who died, though you don’t like to ask.

Dave wasn’t wrong about his mother’s food. She’s made an enormous mole pie, and everyone tucks in enthusiastically. After the meal, when Dave and his father are reminiscing, you offer to help Dave’s mother with the washing-up. Your training tells you this is a good way to have a quiet talk and get some information; of course you ignore it. But Dave’s mother is quite forthcoming.

“I know that you and Dave are just Army pals, but… well I just wanted you to know that Dave appreciates you. He’s always been gung-ho, right from a child… but I think that was a cover for his insecurity. He’s always needed a mentor, someone to look up to. For a while, I think his sergeant, Boris Ward, filled that role. David was very fond of him; I think Boris saved his life at least once. Boris treated David as if he mattered, as if his decisions counted. David really improved then, cut right back on the drink, started dating a girl seriously.

“But then Boris went AWOL and was labelled a traitor. And David went to pieces. He’d always been proud of the Army; now he loathed it. He hit the bottle really hard, and was back to being a lonely drunk.

“You’ve been very good for him. I know you’re new to the military, but you give the sense of knowing what you’re doing, somehow. I think David senses that, and likes it. Even though he keeps calling you ‘Rookie’ I can see he respects you. I like you: I hope we’ll see you again soon.”

You leave Dave’s parents a few hours later, full of good food, warmed by their strong cherry spirit, and carrying a huge wedge of the pie “for your desert adventure”.

  


You’re sitting down in The Curiosity’s when a well-groomed man about Dave’s age walks over. Dave immediately smiles. “Hey, Jim, good to see you. You met Jeff yet? Rookie in our dorm.”

Jim grins, takes your hand, and looks at you rather carefully. “No, not yet had the pleasure. Glad to meet you, Jeff. I was at school with Dave.”

Then he turns back to Dave. “Long time no see. Mind you with the barracks being shut down it’s hardly surprising I’ve not seen you. Is the lock-down over for good?

You’re aware this brings back difficult memories for Dave, but he covers it well. “Yeah, should be. All the guys who deserted have been arrested.”

“Why do I get the sense you’re not happy about that?”

“You know me too well, Jim. Glad that I can be here and be talking to you. But… mixed feelings. Deserters were led by my old Sarge, Boris Ward. Fucking fine soldier.

“We took him in just the other day, me, our Mancer Lieutenant, and Jeff here. Actually Jeff saved the day: one accurate shot from him prevented a bloodbath. Not entirely sure I’d be here talking to you now if he’d not been so good.”

“Glad you’re still with us. And also glad that you seem a bit back to your old self. In our early days, you seemed surrounded by a sea of appreciative girls. Then you got seriously morose and started crying into your beer, and getting carried back to barracks. And now… sitting here actually looking cheerful, with the rookie.

“Can’t resist asking: are you here to introduce your rookie to the fine art of getting laid? Candace is our past master of deflowering, you know. I’ll just look around to see if I can see her…”

Jim looks round the crowded bar; obviously Candace isn’t there. “She’ll be with a customer at the minute, but I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”

Dave caught your eye while Jim was looking for Candace, and winked. Now you know what’s going on.

“Well this rookie sure as hell must get laid; poor lad’s case is really urgent. That right, Rookie?”

And for once you’re delighted to turn on the blush, which exactly suits the occasion. “Err…”

“Rookie’s too shy to say so himself, but he’s utterly fucking desperate. And I want him laid right, and laid hard… so I’m going to do it myself.”

Jim does a complete double-take; Dave laughs; you complete the trio with a rookie-like giggle.

But then Jim smiles… perhaps ruefully. “So Dave Ward, the man for the ladies, is trying it out with a man? Never realised you were interested, Dave. Had I known, I’d certainly have made a bid. You’re a complete sweetheart with a great body; not many of those around. This really completely new to you?

“Pretty much, Jim. Always knew that I fancied men as well as women; but found it so easy wooing girls that I never got around to trying boys. And of course there are far more women looking for a man than there are men looking for a man; I was well provided for in any case. Rookie and I just started off on the usual barracks-is-locked-down-got-to-have-a-hand-job shit, and… not sure quite where we are, but we’re having fun.

“Well, at the moment you’ll not want any additional company, but if at any stage you do… have a word, right? I think we’d all have a hot time.”

“Yeah, think about it later, Jim… off for a slash, back in a minute.”

“So, your first posting, Jeff?”

“Yeah… did a fortnight of basic training, then straight to the Ophir barracks. Ophir is so different from my home in Greenhope… and I’m only just starting to see it now the lock-down’s over. Never been to a place like this before: folk selling sex openly… It’s great; but I can’t see that going down well at home.”

“Well, it’s safe for us here: I’m the only man selling sex, but the girls and I keep an eye out for each other: if a john misbehaves, we’ve all seen them and can deal with them (if we don’t deal with them ourselves… Ethan can wield a mean baseball bat).

“Don’t know if Dave’s mentioned it to you, but I had a john who took to stalking me: a lot bigger physically than I am, so it was scary as well as thoroughly creepy. I can take care of myself, of course; just that if he’d used force, I’d likely come off worse.

“Anyway mentioned this to Dave, and I don’t know what he did… but next time I saw this john, he almost ran to get out of my sight… was really grateful to Davie for that.

“Still can’t quite get over Davie swinging both ways… what about yourself, Jeff?

“Only ever been interested in boys. Pretty new to this, so…”

First sentence is true, of course; the rest is a lie.

“Yeah… a first love will always mark you indelibly. For good or ill. Very much hope it’s for good in your case, Jeff. And in Dave’s case, too. You’ve made a big change to him: he looks a lot more cheerful. And anyone looking cheerful after a long lock-down is clearly on to something good.

Dave returns and ruffles your hair in passing. “So,” says Jim, “you two back to the barracks soon?”

“Nah, Jim. Booked a room here… that okay with you, Rookie?”

Now this is a surprise; at a quick glance, the rooms are expensive for what they are (you’ve not seen them, but you can guess). But perhaps that’s because there’s a high demand from folk wanting sex; with the amount of noise from the jukeboxes (and from enthusiastic lovers in other rooms), no-one’s going to hear anything. 

You take care to pop your eyes as a good rookie should before answering Dave, confidently, “Yeah, good with me, Dave. Want me to stump up my share of our stay?”

“No, you’re good. Get paid a bit more than you do: take it as a treat.”

And you grin, and realise you’re genuinely smiling. But that’s okay here… you’ve not blown cover by doing so.

“Well, need to be going, boys. Got a couple of regular customers just come in who are looking my way. They’re good payers… and good-hearted folk who are good lovers. Going to have a thoroughly pleasant hour or two and get paid for it. What more could I ask? See you soon, boys… be good to each other.”

Jim heads off, cheerfully saying, “Sergeant! Good to see you!” to a shirtless muscular man and his companion.

The bar seems to be getting busier all the time, and folk are looking rather aggrieved that there are just two of you at a table with seats for more. But then Dave says, “Ready to hit the hay, Rookie?” and you immediately say yes.

  


The room’s upstairs down a maze of small corridors. It has thin walls and a cheap door; although you can’t hear anything very clearly, there’s the continuous throb of the music from the bar, and the odd cry or scream from someone enjoying alcohol, drugs, dance, sex, or perhaps a combination of those.

The tiny bathroom has seen better days. In fact, the accommodation’s probably worse than the barracks, all things considered. But the bed is wider and more comfortable than the bunks you’ve been using; and the bedding is fresh. And at last you have some privacy, and the ability to be loud if you want. And when you strip, your erections show that the two of you have been looking forward to this.

You fool around for a bit, and then Dave says, “Meant what I said to Jim when I said I wanted to lay you. Okay if I come inside you?”

“Yeah, I really like the sound of that.”

Your training reminds you that guys are seduced much more easily by someone who seems to be inexperienced; but you also realise that you’re starting to ignore your conditioning.

Fortunately, it turns out that Dave very much knows what he’s doing (you’d wondered whether he would). He takes a long time, and a lot of care, getting you to relax and preparing you; and he has you sit on him, so that you’re in control of the motion.

You’re a bit out of practice, and Dave’s cock is quite broad, so you take things slowly at first; but you quickly realise you’ll be completely comfortable.

As you both start to move, you notice that Dave is not merely experienced, he’s being considerate. Though he’s delightfully forceful towards the end of your encounter.

Mission accomplished, you collapse in a sweaty panting heap on top of Dave, who immediately wraps an arm around you. Once you’ve both caught your breath a little, he says, “Fuck, Rookie! You know you’re a natural? Way you clenched at the end nearly blew my balls. You enjoy that?”

You’re still out of breath at this point, but your happy smile says it all.

“Never done that with a guy before… hope you appreciate being the first.”

So Dave was telling the truth earlier: he’d not been with a man before you. Although it was obvious that Dave had had a lot of sexual experience.

“Look, I know I owe you one. You think you can wait until morning? I really am shagged out.”

You chuckle at this. “Hey, Dave; you’re welcome. That was great for me too. But…” and you put a winking threat into your voice, “I’d better get mine tomorrow.”

“You don’t need to worry your pretty little head about that, Rookie.”

The room is still pretty noisy, but you drift off to sleep comfortably in each other’s arms.

As usual, you wake a little before Dave. Unlike the barracks, the room has a small frosted glass window, letting in some light so you can see the Ward sleeping in your arms. It’s hot, so you’ve not bothered covering yourselves with the sheet; and Dave naked is a feast for the eyes. He looks really delightful sleeping. Actually good to see him relaxing a bit.

It’s not too long before Dave wakes and, as he always does, stretches. “Morning, Rookie.”

And again as always, Dave goes back to dozing for a few more minutes before finally wakening fully. And starting to caress you.

“So, Rookie, said I owed you one last night. And I’m a man who pays my debts. You still interested?”

All you need to do at this point is smile; and you do so genuinely. 

“You want to fuck me? Think I’d like it if you were the first to pop my cherry.”

And you’re quite happy to do this (your conditioning is reminding you of good seduction technique, but you block it).

You make some hints which will put Dave in a position that he’ll find comfortable for his first time: things like “want to try rolling onto your left side, Dave?” and “think you can lift that leg a bit higher?”

And by the time you’re ready to enter Dave, he’s so well-prepared, and you have him so aroused, that it’s very easy.

“I’m in, Dave. You comfortable?”

“You bet. Thought that getting fucked always hurt; glad to find I was wrong.”

“Normally doesn’t hurt if you know what you’re doing, and I guess we both do. You didn’t hurt me last night, for instance, even though you’re quite big. Delightfully big, actually.”

Towards the end of the encounter, Dave is so overwhelmed by pleasure that he’s burbling incomprehensibly. You’re delighted Dave’s getting so much pleasure out of his first time. It takes a while for him to return to you, and then he says, appreciatively, “Fuck me, Rookie.”

“Thought I already did.”

Dave laughs. “You’re starting to sound like Rich.”

“We’ve made quite a mess on the sheet.”

“Don’t worry; they’re used to that here. Sign of a fucking good time.”

  



	5. Time Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the first chapter which uses terminology from the Dust, the Desert people. Just four terms are used in this chapter; two examples are Route and Signpost. Most of these terms, as here, have obvious meanings and aren’t further explained; but a few terms which appear later are described in some detail. Dust terms are marked with an initial capital letter throughout this work.

“So where exactly are we going, Rookie?”

“Out into the desert a bit; there’s a cave quite close to Ophir that no-one but the Dust visits. Greenhope’s on the edge of the desert, too; the desert is nothing like as inhospitable as we are always being told. Folk with our best interests at heart tell us to stay clear; and yes, if you don’t know what you’re doing, the desert is a short-cut to the grave. I’ve been going to the desert most of my life; remember my dad taking me camping there when I was little. So I know my way around. But, if you don’t want to go, I’m sure we can find something else to do.”

Dave pauses a moment. “Should be fine, Rookie; of course I trust you. Thing is, I’m so used to being the-man-who-looks-after-the-rookie that I forget to let you off the leash sometimes. So over to you. What do we need to take?”

“Nothing; we’ll find everything we need there. But if you’re nervous about taking nothing, take a canteen of water. Oh, and let’s take the rest of your mother’s mole pie; there’s plenty left, and it’s delicious. That will certainly keep us going.”

“Fine; I’ll just get those myself. See you in half an hour or so?”

You meet just outside the barracks. You’re both wearing your uniforms; you’ve tried to dissuade Dave from taking his weapons, but he’s determined. “Rookie, if we run into moles or whatever, we’re going to be in the shit.”

You just have a simple knife; but it’s lethally sharp, so you’re not worried.

“Official way to get out into the desert would mean us going through the Slums checkpoint we visited recently when they arrested Boris. Don’t want to stir up those memories for you, Dave. So we’ll take a less official route. You okay with that?”

“Yeah, sure; we’re not on duty today, are we?”

So you head for the Slums, but take a left turn immediately you’ve cleared the first checkpoint there. The Signpost for the Route is still clear: it looks as though this Route is quite well-used (it’s pretty much hidden in plain sight, so you’d not know it was there unless you were looking for it).

It’s a squeeze to get behind the large metal plates that protect the city, and Dave has to hand his kit to you, item by item, and then pass through himself. The passage then widens so that you can comfortably walk side by side.

“Why don’t they enlarge that crunch-point, Rookie?”

“Well this isn’t an officially approved route, and that early difficulty is designed to deter the inquisitive. Folk in the know can get past easily.”

There’s no lighting, but the torches on your uniforms are more than adequate; there are shiny stones in the walls that reflect their light.

Further in, something strange happens: once a little light falls on the wall, it begins to glow softly.

“What the fuck is this?”

“The passage is lined with a lichen which emits light, as you see. You just need a gentle light from a candle or a torch to set it off. Without that, it will fade in a few minutes.”

You take a couple of sharp turns and then find yourself at a massive bulkhead door.

“Not a problem, Dave; it’s one of the portals in the city’s outer shielding. This dates from the first construction.”

You head up a short flight of steps to the right of the door, and turn a handle enthusiastically; the huge door slowly starts to open. It doesn’t need to be open much more than a crack for you both to slip through; there’s a similar mechanism on the other side for you to close it.

And now you’re back in the light again; there’s a short metal-lined passage, which gives onto a rocky shelf. A huge rock protrudes above you and screens you from the sun.

“Okay Dave, this is the desert. Or just the start of it, actually. Just feast your eyes.”

The rock platform you’re standing on gives a wide view: there’s a narrow canyon running left to right just below the platform, which is well-screened from the direct sun. On the other side of the canyon, another rock wall rises steeply to the right. You can see high mountains all around in the distance.

“So… this narrow valley is screened from the sun by these rocks?”

“Yeah… the desert’s full of areas like this, enabling folk to move around with ease; though you absolutely have to know the geography to use them at all safely. Don’t worry: I…” you pause, not wanting to give away too much information, “…know this area well.”

Dave doesn’t seem to pick up on why this might be surprising, which is just as well. “It’s still fucking boiling. Can we find somewhere cool?”

“Don’t worry, there’s a lovely cool spot not far away. Probably a twenty-minute journey. Want a breather first?”

“Yeah, not a bad plan.”

So you take seats (the rock platform has a number of large, surprisingly comfortable stones; you don’t tell Dave that these are Sitting Stones).

You take your boots and socks off and stow them safely behind the Stones. 

“What’s going on, Rookie? I know it’s hot, but you’ll need your boots to tackle this terrain for sure.”

“Desert people normally go barefoot, and (provided you’re used to it) it’s a good idea. You’d be surprised the amount of information your feet can pick up. You need to get used to it, though: the desert sand can be quite sharp, and it can hurt until you’re used to it.”

Dave doesn’t sound over-convinced by this, and keeps his boots, very firmly, on. You have a snack, and share Dave’s canteen of water. The heat encourages you to move on fairly quickly.

There’s a Route to the right of the platform, with stones positioned like a flight of stairs, doubling back on itself to reach the floor of the canyon.

The canyon’s in shadow (at least at the minute), so the sand’s not scalding your feet. Dave’s still a little way above you: you can sense from the feeling of the sand that there may be a problem. But as you’re just about to warn Dave to wait, he jumps down the last two steps and lands gracefully but heavily beside you.

Unfortunately this is all the manta needs: it senses a potential target and launches itself from the sand, a few metres in front of you. Dave has stowed his shield and mace on his back during the descent; fortunately you have your knife handy and, almost without thought, hurl it straight at the creature. You know that this will buy you a second, during which time you grab the mace from Dave’s back ready to inflict further damage.

Fortunately, there’s no need: the manta is lying dead on the sand, your knife embedded deeply in its body.

“Holy fuck, Rookie, that was some throw!” You shrug slightly; “Just lucky, I guess.”

“Mantas have some good meat on them; let me cut the edible parts off this beast and we’ll take them with us for later. We’ll leave the rest of the carcass exposed; scavengers will have completely removed it by the time we get back.”

Dave looks a bit surprised by this remark, but you simply add, “Trust me.” You select a Route up the steep face opposite.

“How do you find these paths, Rookie? All this rock looks just the same to me.”

“I suppose I’d say there’s a knack to it. The folk who live in the desert are cunning; they’ve organised safe passage for themselves. And for those who know how to read the Signposts.”

You’re about half-way up the “stairs” the other side; Dave’s sweating profusely with the heat and the weight of his gear. You double-check the Signpost, and then say, “Okay, what we do here is to take a few steps along this narrow shelf to the right. There are good hand-holds, so there’s no risk of falling, provided you don’t mess about. You okay with that?”

Dave was obviously about to say, “Sure thing.” But then he looks and realises that he needs to take care, and that this is not a place for false bravado.

“Tell you what, Dave, I’ll make along this; you put your weaponry on the ledge, slide it along to me, I’ll pick it up, and you can follow. Okay? Have some rope if you think you’ll need it.”

You manage to get Dave’s equipment over easily, though, and Dave, taking a deep breath first, actually doesn’t have any problems negotiating the ledge. The rope stays unused, coiled around your waist.

There’s another rock shelf at the end of the narrow ledge, which leads gently down and into… a huge damp cave. You walk about a hundred metres into the cave, descending gently all the while, to reach a large patch of something soft and dark green and delightful.

“Settlers called this stuff ‘moss’, Dave. I don’t think it’s quite the same plant as they had on Earth, but it seems to share a lot of the same characteristics. Take a seat; it’s comfortable, particularly on a hot day.”

So Dave does as he’s told, and a look of relief and incomprehension crosses his face. “So there are places on Mars that are cool and damp?”

“Course there are, Dave. This one doesn’t have enough water for commercial exploitation, and the rock around us is friable, so it can’t support any machinery. The Corporations aren’t interested. These places are only known about, or visited, by the Dust: and there aren’t many of those. You can take your boots off if you want, Dave; the floors here are fairly comfortable barefoot.”

While Dave takes his boots off (and looks relieved at doing so), he says, “So we’re safe here, Rookie?”

It’s a very strange question from Dave, and you wonder what it might mean. But you answer truthfully, “No-one’s even aware we’re here, Dave; no spies; no technology (not that we have much compared to the Settlers). Just us. Someone might notice we’re missing from Ophir, but they’ll not be able to find where we’ve gone. Does this suit as time away? We can head back to the city whenever we like.”

“Rookie, this is fucking awesome. Want to look around this properly. Never even dreamed somewhere like this existed.”

“Well when you spend all your life in the metal shell of Ophir, you’d have no idea that this sort of place existed. And now you know.”

Dave jumps up, and, as he promised, investigates the cave thoroughly. A huge tree grows tall, its roots fed by the spring below you, its leaves taking light through breaks in the cave roof. You pick a few of its leaves, and collect a few dry fallen branches to start a fire later.

  


“So it’s safe to talk, Rookie?” Again you’re a little worried as to what Dave might mean by this, but you answer simply and truthfully, “Yes. Don’t think there’s anyone else here at all; there are very few Dust anyway. Some of them know the Merchant Tongue, but I doubt that more than a handful know the language of Ophir. If that. And there’s a substantial group of the Dust who’ve mutated away from speech entirely, and communicate in other ways. So the answer’s yes; it’s safe to talk… provided you trust me, of course.”

“Got something I’ve been burning to talk about and can’t talk about to anyone else. And I figure with you being a newb I can confide in you; you’ll not have the contacts and agendas of other folk. And you know how you feel you can trust someone you’ve enjoyed sex with?”

Dave pauses. “Need a small shot of something strong to get me started.”

You’re starting to become worried by Dave’s train of thought, but of course you can’t show it. Might be best just to listen and see what develops, although you’ve got no idea how you’re going to play this.

Dave gets out a small hip-flask, filled with his parents’ cherry spirit. He offers you some first; you just touch the flask to your lips, wanting to be completely sober during whatever transpires. You pass the flask back to Dave, who takes a swig, swallows, then closes the flask and puts it down beside him.

“Need to do this talk fairly sober, or you’ll never believe me.”

“I’m listening, Dave. Want me to get closer? Don’t mean necessarily hold your hand, but you might want some comfort?”

“Thanks, Rookie, but no thanks. Besides, what I say’s gonna shock you… don’t want to feel you flinch when it does.”

This really does sound rather worrying.

“Okay, here goes… ASC have got their hooks into me. Making me work for them. Not something I want to do, but got no choice. How’s that grab you?”

Holy shit. With very great difficulty, you manage to control your face; your emotions are rather beyond your control at present, but you’ve been hiding them successfully for so many years that you hope Dave can’t see them.

“Doesn’t sound like it’s fun from your side, Dave. Want to say more?”

Dave makes as though to take another sip from the flask, then realises it’s a bad idea.

“Know our new Mancer Lieutenant? Can’t think why, but they want me to keep tabs on him. Quite why he deserves ASC attention beats me. Yeah, he’s got strong Mancer skills, and I guess he’s reasonably competent given how little experience he’s had, but… just can’t see why he’s some big-shot that scares them.”

A silence. Then Dave continues, “And you know what? ASC don’t even fucking pay me for doing this dirty work for them.”

Dave has to pause a moment. “Rookie, they threatened my parents. Not to their faces, no. But they said if I didn’t do as they told me, Mom and Dad would find their way to a re-education camp double-quick. And they didn’t need to tell me that they’d not survive that experience… I already realised.”

“You sure it was ASC?”

“Well, didn’t meet Colonel fucking Viktor. But yeah, I’m sure. Definitely not Vory. And they knew way too much about my parents’ lives, and too much about me and my movements, to be attached to any small organisation. Resistance couldn’t have pulled that much info together on me even if it wanted to. And Anton would just have sent the Vory round: and we can recognise those guys no problem.

“For instance, they knew all about my father’s medical condition. I tried to string them along at first, but they told me (almost with a wink) that it was foolish. Then I found out the old man couldn’t get his meds. Then I realised they had me by the throat. And the balls. And the dick. And every other fucking sensitive spot on my body. And, strangely, this all started a few months before the Mancer joined us. They must have wanted to keep tabs on him from his first arrival.

“I’d heard they used blackmail a lot. Didn’t really have anything they could blackmail me with… sure I got drunk, specially then; yeah I have sex, but only with consenting adults; finances in order, as I’m on the Army payroll and my only significant outgoing (apart from booze) is keeping my family going financially.”

“So here I am, acting as a fucking traitor to the Army that I used to love. It’s ten tons of shit, Rookie.

“Glad you came along; wouldn’t have been able to share this with anyone who wasn’t a newbie, far too risky. 

“And there you have it… you gonna turn me in? Knew I was taking a risk, but…”

There’s a long silence. For once, you really aren’t sure what to say. Then you decide to throw caution to the wind. But not fully, not yet. You’ll wait a little while, let Dave calm down after his revelation, before you give him yours.

“No, Dave, not gonna turn you in at all. I’m your Army buddy, remember? Buddies have each other’s backs.”

To your astonishment, Dave starts to cry. Tears appear in his eyes, and then start falling down his cheeks and off the end of his chin; Dave smears them away with his hands.

Not knowing quite what to do, you close the space between you, and, very tentatively, touch Dave’s shoulders. There’s no resistance, so cautiously you pull him closer to you and hug him. It’s not the ideal geometry for this, given the way you’ve been sitting, but it’s better than nothing.

You stay like this for what must be several minutes, then Dave just says, “Thanks, Rookie.”

You feel that a break is called for. “Fancy a shower, Dave?”

“Fuck off Rookie… this ain’t a barracks or a hotel.”

You laugh. “True enough. But there is running water here; it’ll be cold, but it will be refreshing on a scorching day like this.”

“Sounds a good idea; lead the way. Do I need to put my boots back on?”

“Shouldn’t need to, Dave. I’ll go first, let you know if any of the footing’s uncomfortable.”

But in fact it’s quite easy; there are smooth rock steps down from your mossy couch towards a small pool, fed by a tiny waterfall high above your heads. The base of the pool is sandy rather than rocky, so gives a good footing that’s not slippery.

You both strip and are glad to wash off the day’s sweat. The water is icy but very refreshing. This isn’t the time and place for having sex; Dave’s still visibly upset. Once out of the water, it’s warm enough that you can let yourselves dry naturally. But you both gain from just holding one another, tenderly and quietly, before dressing again.

And, now feeling hungry, you tuck into the remains of Dave’s mother’s mole pie. It’s as delicious cold as you’d hoped.

  


“Don’t really know how to start this neatly, Dave, so think I’ll just launch in. Before I do, let me do this.”

And you take your knife and hand it to Dave. “Put that on the far side of you. Don’t have any other weapons myself.”

“What the fuck are you on about, Rookie?”

“Guess what I want to do is to try and put you at your ease; or at the very least, make it clear that I’m not a threat.”

“Rookie… if anyone’s a threat out of the two of us, it’s me. You’re new to all this Army crap. How long have you been in the barracks? Three weeks. First: you’re my buddy. Second: you’re a rookie: so no, you’re not a threat.”

Well that’s as good an introduction to what you’re about to say as anything.

“I’m not actually a rookie, Dave. Yeah, I know what the paperwork says, and I know what I’ve told you, the dorm and the Captain. But it was all a lie. I’m undercover. And the reason I know so much about the desert is because… I was trained as a desert fighter.”

Dave just roars. “Rookie, you and your fucking silver tongue! That has to be one of the best lines I’ve ever heard from you. ‘Desert fighter’ my ass.”

Actually, that’s a good response, all things considered. You keep an even face.

“I mean it, Dave. How come I’ve got us here, found us the things we need? Yeah, I know you’ve not seen my specifically desert fighting skills, but I’m not going to use those on you. Or here, ever. This is a Dust Sacred Site, and they would consider it desecrated if someone were attacked here.”

Dave looks at you carefully, and then says, “Shit, Rookie, you really do believe this stuff, don’t you? You feeling okay?”

“Yeah, I’m perfectly medically fine, Dave, though frankly I’m shit scared; and yes, it’s the truth. Remember when you said the ASC got to you? Here’s the joke: I guess they got to me when I was about two. I’ve been with them all the life I can remember. And…,” you see Dave suddenly looking alarmed, “No, I’m not going to turn you in to them. Trust me on this. Because I want out, too. And I didn’t know there was anyone else who wanted that until we had this conversation.”

A long silence. Then you say, “Actually, it’s probably easiest if you question me: sure you have a lot to ask.”

Another pause, then Dave begins, “Okay, Rookie, so what do I call you? What’s you name?”

“Don’t have one. Operatives like me are given numbers, which change periodically according to our rank, training and assignment. Problem with having a name is that you instinctively respond to it; it’s one of the first things a normal child ever hears. If you’re undercover, that’s a liability. So folk like me don’t have names. Just call me Jeff. Or ‘Rookie’. Doesn’t really matter.”

“Hang on, Rookie. You’re far too young to be an experienced operative; at your age…”

“Well, I started, or perhaps was started, very young. I have no idea who my parents were at all; I presume that the ASC liquidated them, and then indoctrinated me.

“Killed my first target at the age of nine. Got my desert skills, initially, from the ASC; I was put through their desert training. Probably about age eleven, I guess. Had to survive a month in the desert, unsupported. So I really do have the years of experience… just started acquiring them very early, when most folk would have had childhoods.”

You’ve been looking at the ground whilst saying all this, but lift your eyes, rather tentatively, to Dave, who’s looking at you, shocked, yes; but also sympathetically.

“Fuck Rookie… how can they treat you like this? Fits with the pattern of the ASC shits I’ve met, though, I can tell you.

“But what’s all this stuff about the Dust? Can’t see the ASC wanting anything to do with folk they’d consider sub-human. And not quite sure why I’m saying this, but I can’t see the Dust wanting anything to do with the ASC either.”

You sigh. “Another long story coming up, Dave… sorry.

“ASC had trained me as a desert fighter, but there was something about the desert that called to me; even though it could be a struggle to survive with the skills I’d been given (the ASC know far less about the desert than the Dust do, I assure you).

“So I got permission to take a month out in the desert. ASC were happy about that; they knew I was good, and they realised they’d benefit from having someone who was seriously desert-competent. 

“Took to taking a month out every year or so. Then about five years back, shit happened. Got myself into a real mess: seriously expected that I was going to die.

“Then a few of the Dust showed up and rescued me. I was pretty weak and needy, and they took care of me as I recovered. They quickly realised I had some serious desert skills, and initially I thought it would be cool simply to learn from them and apply it to my ASC training.

“But the Dust are, in their own way, sneaky: I found myself in a completely different society, not one where power, or serum, was important. What mattered, as I Learned, was simply being human, and responding to the beauty of the Desert.

“So I started to Learn from them. My month-long desert ‘training-courses’ became a month of my Learning at the feet of one of the Wise.

“It was the Dust who broke my ASC conditioning. Before, I’d have done absolutely anything the Colonel said (and yes, I have met him). Even if it had meant my certain death.

“But not now. I realise there is another way to exist. It’s hard, and it’s ‘poor’ by the standards of the folk in the cities: but it’s a more real life as far as I’m concerned. Or rather, it’s the sort of life that I want, and the sort of life I think actually has value.

“Now of course I could just high-tail it into the desert and live with the Dust, which is what I want; could even start that journey from here, now. But I don’t want the ASC coming after me; if they did, they’d almost certainly attack the Dust. I’d rather die myself than have that happen to my people. 

“The person behind the ASC, the one whose lust for power controls them, is the Colonel. He’s the person who endangers my people; he’s the one who has to be taken down. Despite my skills, I can’t do that myself; in fact there’s very little I can do; but I want to do the little I can to destroy him and the organisation he’s built.

“So there you have it. I’ve not said everything, because if I did, you’d probably just laugh. But that’s enough for a start.

“Now, as you asked me… are you going to turn me in?”

Now it’s Dave turn to be silent. In the end he says, “Fuck, Rookie… Just: fuck… Absolutely fucking unbelievable… But yes, I do believe you. And I’m sure as fuck not going to turn you in. They’d just torture you, and then they’d learn about me, right?” But he smiles as he says that last sentence. 

Another pause. “Thanks for telling me, Rookie; I appreciate it. Hey… can’t go on calling you ‘Rookie’ now, can I?”

“Probably best if we carry on behaving exactly as we did before; so yes, call me Rookie. We can work out a new name for me when, or if, we ever get out of the ASC’s clutches.

“Lots for us both to think about… think we deserve a break.”

You’re both silent for a long time, but in a good way; Dave actually seems less angst-ridden than you’ve seen him before.

And your feelings? Nice to get the weight off your shoulders. Yes, you are taking the most enormous risk: if Dave talks, or you’re found out some other way, it will be a slow excruciating death for you. But you feel glad, just for once, to have told the truth. Or a great deal of it, anyway.

The sun is obviously setting; the cave is starting to darken, and tiny bats or similar creatures are flitting around in the cave’s roof. Dave looks at them with a little concern, but you reassure him that they don’t eat humans. 

“Probably just have enough daylight to head back to the city if you want, Dave.”

“We can stay here though, can’t we, Rookie?” says Dave. He doesn’t say that in a childish pleading tone, but you’re astonished that he expressed himself this way.

“Yeah, sure we can. Be nice to have a cooler place to sleep just for one night in any case. Don’t have any bedding, but the moss is comfortable enough.”

You need to cuddle together quite closely to feel warm enough, but of course that’s not a problem. Both of you, emotionally worn out by your disclosures, drift off to sleep very quickly. It’s a sign of how tired Dave is that he doesn’t want sex first.

  


“Suppose as this is a sacred place, we’re not allowed to fuck. Pity; I’d really love that.”

It’s the next morning, and Dave has just fully woken. You were awake a little earlier, as you always are.

“Nothing to stop us. The Dust don’t have this idea of sex as being something immoral or sacrilegious, and it’s fine to have it at a Sacred Site. So if you want to…”

You don’t get a chance to say anything else because Dave is kissing you hungrily.

“Got a suggestion Dave… like to try a favourite position of mine.” And you demonstrate.

“You serious, Rookie? You’re impressively flexible. Plus… well… you’re very much exposed.”

“Perhaps, Dave… but I really like it; trust me. Remember that, just as I’m not a rookie, I’m not a virgin either; been around the block a few times. Nice thing about this position is that it’s good if you want to thrust hard; and as an added bonus, we can also kiss while we’re fucking.”

Dave enters you and checks you’re comfortable. Then, as an experienced lover, he starts gently; he changes the rhythm now and again; sometimes he’s gentle and sometimes he’s more forceful; and once you’re settled into a groove that suits the two of you, he starts to work harder. 

And from time to time, Dave will lean down to kiss you; or you’ll reach up and kiss him. You feel Dave all around you and inside you; you’re aware of the calluses on his hands from wielding the mace; you watch his body as he works; you can smell his delicious scent.

And something new happens as Dave moves inside you: possibly for the first time in your life, you let go. Until now, you’ve thought it would mean revealing who you truly are. You seem happy to do that now.

One of the last things you’re aware of, before you’re completely overwhelmed by pleasure, is the sweat on Dave’s body as he thrusts away hard; and you think how beautiful he looks. 

It’s a long while before you finally come back to yourself. Dave is kissing you, exhausted, sweaty, and still inside you. “Fuck, Rookie, you always used to be so quiet. Now you pretty much scream the fucking place down. Know what? When the person I’m with is that deep into enjoying themselves, it’s a massive turn-on for me.”

“Glad you enjoyed yourself, Dave. Because I really liked it, too.”

Dave kisses you, and says, seriously, “One of the best fucks of my life, Rookie. Let’s have another one before we leave.”

And Dave gives that huge child-like grin of his you normally see so rarely. “Think I understand why you could at last let yourself go, Rookie; proud of you.” And he kisses you.

You light a small fire, using the wood you collected yesterday; you wrap the manta meat in the leaves you collected at the same time, and cook it in the fire. It’s a simple breakfast, but a surprisingly tasty and sustaining one.

“Hey, Rookie: what we’re eating now tastes so good, how come we eat stuff that tastes like crap in Ophir?”

It’s a question you never get round to answering.

You enjoy each other again before you head off; it’s wonderful to be able to do so without any inhibition.

The way home is straightforward: simply retracing your original journey. But this time, Dave is careful not to jump down heavily onto the sand, and gives you time to check that there’s nothing lying in wait. There’s no trace of the manta carcass, as you’d predicted.

You both scramble up the other side of the canyon to the Seating Stones, and you reclaim your boots. Then back into the city, the air tasting more metallic and hot and foetid the closer you get.

Just before you get to the Slums, Dave says, “Fucking great time away, Rookie. Need to do it again as soon as we can. Got any more of those leaves you collected yesterday?”

“One or two, Dave; want one?”

“Please rookie… keepsake of a good time.”

“Careful, Dave; you’ll turn into a romantic if you keep this up.” Dave slaps your ass playfully; not unreasonable behaviour, all things considered.

  


  


  


  



	6. Missing Soldier

Folk move around the dorm fairly frequently, because they want to be nearer friends, or because they want to get away from someone’s snoring, or just at random. One day a bunk with a side hard against the wall becomes available; the lower storey, as it were, is taken up by a weapons locker, so there’s no company.

After talking it over with you, Dave goes to Ryan and the Captain and asks if the two of you can share the empty bunk.

It’s only a few centimetres wider than the standard bunk, so you still have to spoon up to get the two of you in; but this is no hardship at all. You manage to rig up some thickish towels as curtains to give you a little privacy, although of course there’s no soundproofing, and the dorm will hear every noise you make. Not ideal by any means, but it’s a big improvement on sharing a normal bunk. 

One of the things you love when you wake first is the smell of your joint musk, particularly if it’s been a warm night: you never tire of Dave’s smell or taste.

Dave likes to have sex before he goes to sleep, and you normally manage a quiet hand- or blow-job; anything noisier or more vigorous would be difficult. Sometimes you get to the showers early enough in the morning to find them empty, and enjoy a second helping; but a shower isn’t the best place for every type of sex. Nor is the odd dark corner you find in the Slums, but you use it when you can.

A room at The Curiosity’s is wonderful when you can afford it, but strictly a luxury on soldiers’ wages. You both relish the privacy of the desert, but that typically takes a two-day round trip; and leave isn’t always in good supply.

You could stay with Dave’s parents, but they only have a one-room shack; you’d be sleeping behind a curtain, pretty much as in the mess.

“Need to get new jobs, Rookie,” says Dave with a wink. Things are more than manageable, but it would be nice to have sleeping accommodation that’s less inhibiting.

  


In what turns out to be your last mission with him, you both go with the Lieutenant to see Fiorello, a well-known merchant in the Exchange. Fiorello wanted a strong bodyguard, and the Lieutenant freed a Mutant called Beg yesterday for the task. Today the Lieutenant’s visiting to check that Beg has been delivered, and to receive payment.

Beg is an enormous strong Mutant, and the Pen Manager was reluctant to give him up. But Beg staged a fake “revolt”, and the Lieutenant (who seems to have a silver tongue) was able to negotiate his release.

While the Lieutenant and the merchant are exchanging pleasantries, you approach Beg, who is standing near the merchant he’s guarding, watching closely in case you’re a threat. You still have a leaf in your pocket from your time in the desert with Dave, and you offer it to Beg. “Here, big guy, want a pretty leaf?”

Beg seems delighted; he repeats “Nice man give Beg pretty leaf” loudly several times, before putting the leaf into his mouth and swallowing it.

Dave smirks, “Don’t know what you were planning, Rookie, but looks like it didn’t work.”

  


Something strange is going on. Your Lieutenant questioned you in detail yesterday evening, about your past, about your interests, about your hobbies… It was puzzling. You were confident that your cover hadn’t slipped.

The Lieutenant also questioned Dave, and even, respectfully, quizzed the Captain (who was, unusually, a little forthcoming about her personal life).

The Lieutenant and Dave headed off to The Curiosity’s, leaving you behind; Dave just said, “Sorry, Rookie: not sure what’s going on here, but if the Lieutenant is buying me a drink, something must be up. I’ll let you know what’s happening when I know it myself.”

And he kissed you and left.

And you’ve not seen him, or the Lieutenant, since.

At your usual reveille, you report to the Captain. “Seems both David Ward and the Lieutenant have disappeared; no idea what’s happened to them. You got any information or ideas, Hunter?”

“No ma’am; Private David told me he was going out for a drink with the Lieutenant, said he thought something was going on, but had no idea what it was. Kissed me before he left.”

“Well there’s an obvious story here of our Mancer running off with a soldier, but I really can’t believe that.” She looks at you as she talks about Dave and Zach eloping; you quietly shake your head.

“I’ll assign you to work with Private Carl today: experienced soldier who tells me he thinks a lot of you. Usual routine today, Hunter. But keep your ear to the ground; if you hear anything, report it to me.

“Oh and one other thing, Hunter: if you want to do some of your own investigating, fine. But do it in your own time. Army doesn’t have the resources to waste on a personal project. Dismissed.”

“Yes, Ma’am.”

You go to find Carl. “Hey, Jeff, how’s it hanging? Any news on Dave?”

“None at all… the whole thing’s very confusing. Lieutenant quite often took us on missions of his own; guess they were for the Mancers. Might have taken Dave on one of those, I suppose. But that doesn’t square with them apparently going out for a drink. And I know Dave well enough to be sure he’d have dropped me a hint if he knew what was going on. He seemed as much in the dark as we now are.”

“You okay with Dave missing?”

“No, not really, Carl… just have to park that worry and do my duty, I guess.” You take a deep breath. “Captain assigned me to work with you today. Know what we need to do?”

“Yeah. Not sure if you were involved with this, but the Lieutenant had to deal with some guys who were high on a secret combat drug which made them paranoid. He talked them out of it; impressive. Anyway it looks like someone’s selling the same drug in the Exchange. So our instructions are to visit Anton Rogue and see if he has anything to do with it.”

Anton Rogue’s headquarters aren’t too far from The Curiosity’s… an unfortunate coincidence, as going near that place reminds you of your wonderful night there with Dave, not long ago. You also feel pretty nervous at the prospect of talking to Anton Rogue; you had the Lieutenant to do the negotiating before; now it’s all down to you. Anton is his usual urbane and threatening self.

“Never have been a fan of drugs. Destroying lives. The lives of our youth. And no, I’ve got nothing to do with this new drug myself. You’ll need to sort it out yourselves.”

As you’re about to leave, you say, rather hesitantly, “Mr Rogue… could I ask you a question, please?”

“You can ask, Jeffrey… it is Jeffrey, isn’t it? I may or may not feel like answering.”

“My buddy, David Ward, is missing. I… I was just wondering whether you knew anything. I’m really very worried. Dave and I were working for the Lieutenant, who also seems to have vanished.”

“My, my. The Army really is getting careless these days. To lose both a Private and a Lieutenant together? ‘These lovers fled away’, perhaps…? But no, I know nothing about it.”

Once outside, Carl congratulates you. “You’re a brave one to ask Anton Rogue a question, Jeff… and I think you got away with it. You never know whether Anton’s lying or not, but in this case, I suspect he’s telling the truth. If he did have something to do with Dave and the Lieutenant’s disappearance, we can be damn sure he’d have boasted about it to us.”

  


You’ve managed to get through your day by concentrating on the things in hand, but it’s hard. You find yourself rather split. One part of you, the ASC agent part, can ignore your bubbling feelings of loss and worry and just get on with stuff; and, in this context, that’s the part you’re letting handle things. In particular because going to pieces yourself won’t help you find Dave. And the ASC agent part is fine during daylight hours. Once you’re in the bunk you shared with Dave, and pull the curtains closed, and smell what remains of his scent, then you let your other half out of its cell. It’s then you can cry (soundlessly, so no-one will be aware of how you’re feeling). Even kind concerns like, “Any news on Dave?” are hard to handle.

You steel yourself to enter The Curiosity’s in the hope that you’ll see Jim. You get yourself a soft drink from Ethan Host and wait; Jim appears after about half an hour, and you attract his attention.

“Well it’s Dave’s sweetie. How’s it going, my friend?”

“Hey Jim. Not too well actually. Dave’s gone missing, and no-one seems to know what’s happened. Wondered whether as a good friend of his you’d heard anything?”

“What? Dave bitched about his time in the Army, of course, but both his parents were in the military… I really can’t see him going AWOL. Anything happen between you two?”

“Not at all; but there was something strange. Dave said the Lieutenant was taking him to The Curiosity’s to buy him a drink; Dave knew something was up, but didn’t know what. Kissed me as he left.”

“Hang on: think I remember something now. Dave came in with the Lieutenant and they seemed to have some sort of row. Busy chatting up a potential john at the time so wasn’t able to listen to everything that was said. Got quite heated at one point; Lieutenant had Dave backed against a wall. Wondered if it might be a BDSM scene to be honest. Anyway they quietened down, Dave left, Lieutenant left a little bit later, don’t think either of them drank very much.”

Jim pauses; then he says, “You’re really hurting, aren’t you? I could just offer you sex right now, as a comfort, but it wouldn’t actually help you. And it would just be me being selfish: I would simply be wanting to shag the man that Dave loved. Wouldn’t be fair on you at all. But if there is a happier time, when you find Dave, and the three of us meet, and we’re all agreeable… well who knows?

“One other thing: if you find Dave, just give him my love, please. You’re keeping a brave face on, but I can see you’re missing him. First love is always hard to lose.”

  


You weren’t quite sure whether you’d be able to find Dave’s home again; you’d always followed him through the confusing maze of tiny streets. But it turns out not to be too difficult. You knock on the door a few times with no response; it’s only when you call out, “it’s Jeff, Dave’s friend” that there’s any sign of life from within. Once you’re in the shack, Dave’s mother shuts the door immediately.

“We feel so ashamed… we’re in an enclave of military folk, and to have David go AWOL… David’s father has taken it particularly hard… he had a very bad night, poor lamb, and he’s still asleep.”

“I’m really sorry to trouble you at such a bad time, Mrs Ward. But obviously, I’m worried about Dave too; do you have any idea what might have happened?”

“No idea at all. David had told us that you were seeing each other, and we were delighted; the first time David had mentioned a companion in a long time. So we had high hopes for him being happier. And now this. And… it seems wrong to mention serum at a time like this, but David was topping up our income after the Army pension cuts… I don’t quite know how we’ll cope. Sit down, Jeff… let me at least make you a cup of chocolate.”

“Perhaps I shouldn’t say this, but you seem to hide so much of yourself away, Jeff. I’m sure that a lot of what you hide away is good. You should show it more… I think David saw that in you, too… How awful… I’m talking about my only son in the past tense…”

As you get up to leave, you say, “Even a rookie has a little serum, Mrs Ward. Here… will this help?”

“That’s very kind, Jeff… yes, it will help. I know this is a strange request, but would you mind holding me for a moment? I can’t ask David to hug me at the minute… but it would help if someone who loved David did.”

  


You’re really not sure what to do next. All the leads you’ve chased have come to nothing. You’ve had a bad night, and are pretty much wide awake an hour before dawn. Deciding to get up, you’re hit by a memory: early days, when you and Dave were simply exchanging hand-jobs; the thrill and hopefulness of padding over to his bunk to see whether he was awake and willing. And Dave was always willing if he was awake. Happy days, though you didn’t realise it at the time. 

After your shower, you decide to clear your head by walking round the Exchange; it’s safe now the lock-down’s over. As much by habit as anything you head for Fiorello’s stall; you and Dave spent an inordinate amount of time waiting here, while the trader and the Lieutenant talked. The stall’s empty, both Beg and Fiorello long gone.

“Psst… soldier… do you have a minute, please?” It’s Tom Goodsman, the trader with the stall next to Fiorello’s. Traders are known for loudly calling out their wares, but Tom now looks cautious and anxious. He’s almost whispering; there’s no-one else around to hear, so you’re a little puzzled. “Don’t come too close… don’t make eye contact… Remember your Army buddy, David Ward?”

Your heart turns somersaults at hearing Dave’s name again; as if you’d ever forget him. Wisely, you let the “trained agent” part of your psyche deal with this. Matching Tom’s behaviour, you quietly say, “Yes,” whilst looking elsewhere.

“He gave me a bunch of serum to give you a message: and he’s left something for you. Told me to tell you he was off with Fiorello to somewhere legendary. Look at the container closest to the heater. You’ll find something to the right, tucked just under the lid. Okay?”

You do as Tom suggests; your fingers search for, and find, the item. You look at it for just a fraction of a second before slipping it into your uniform pocket (you’ve had lots of practice at this as an agent). You know what the item is: it’s the leaf you gave Dave, when you were coming back from your desert expedition some days ago. So this isn’t just a merchant’s wind-up: Dave was really here. You can’t be certain of more, but at least he was alive, and visited Tom. 

And you have an idea of his destination, if the merchant is telling the truth. You know about Noctis, of course, because of your rank in the ASC; but you can’t talk to Tom about this, even though he knows the place too. The irony makes you smile. Taking a risk, but feeling you really want to, you say, simply and quietly, though not looking at Tom, “Thanks a lot.” Then you get back to the barracks, and, although it’s only about half an hour to reveille, get back in your bunk and pull the curtains. You take out the leaf and stare at it, almost unbelieving. And you kiss it. And then, remembering Beg’s good example, you swallow it.

  



	7. The Hangar

As a deep cover agent, you were sent to the field with essentially no information apart from your background: the rookie that wants to woo that blue-eyed girl in Greenhope, the one who loves soldiers. And you’ve heard no more from HQ.

Until this morning. You get occasional “postcards from Greenhope” from that “blue-eyed girl” with news of what’s going on there. These appear with a frequency that seems perfectly natural. The blue-eyed girl doesn’t exist, of course; and the news itself contains nothing of any import to your mission. The postcards are dated so that they seem to have arrived by the long slow train journey from their purported origin.

The address part of the postcard is the key thing. There are various stamps that show when the postcard was sent, when it left the censors’ office, and so on. It’s the censors’ office time-stamp that matters; they’re reasonably efficient, at least for material as obviously innocuous as the postcard text, and you’d expect the postcard to clear the censor within the day. If the censor’s date stamp indicates that the postcard has been held overnight, then there’s a message waiting. And you’ve received such a card today.

(Of course the postcard never goes to the censors’ office either; it’s probably written in the nearby ASC headquarters.)

And to receive the waiting message, you need to go to a particular coffee bar in the Exchange and order a hot drink. The cup will be wrapped in cardboard to keep the drink warm: and the wrapping won’t be perfect, a small tag of cardboard sticking out from it. The tag contains the message. You just tear off the excess cardboard (you can appear to drop it), and look at the message later.

This time, the tag is completely blank, which means: go to ASC headquarters when time permits.

Quite unexpectedly, Eliza Major gives you the afternoon off. Perhaps because she knows you’re grieving for Dave? Because you certainly are. Fortunately, as an ASC agent asked to visit HQ, you can just put yourself into ‘agent mode’ and put the grieving aside… for the moment.

So you head to the ASC headquarters. Investigating Dave’s disappearance, you’d heard rumours about the Lieutenant being ordered to report to Colonel Viktor; you weren’t sure quite what to make of them. Perhaps you’ll find out more there.

  


The entrance to Headquarters is well-concealed, through an airlock in an anonymous room fairly close to the barracks. Secrecy being the most important thing, you weren’t expected to arrive at a particular time. And your seniority within the organisation grants you particular leeway.

You make your way through the airlock and down the ladder onto the gallery which surrounds the main part of the complex. The Colonel’s office is just off this gallery, with a long window looking down on the work area below.

Strangely for a man with so much power, the Colonel’s office is sparsely furnished. You realise, of course, that the thing the Colonel covets above all is power; wealth is insignificant by comparison.

“Ah, Jeffrey, thank you for coming.” The Colonel’s speeches are always formally welcoming, but they are completely cold. There’s an ASC convention that agents working under cover are always addressed by their cover name, rather than their number.

“I finally have something for you to do. But before I give you new orders, report to me on your current assignment so far. Is all going to plan?”

Shit. The Colonel has always simply given orders before, rather than asking questions. It’s possible that something’s happened. The best plan, your training says, is to tell the complete truth. And you will; about everything that the Colonel can verify, anyway.

“I believe my cover to be secure, Colonel. I did make one change to the story I was given: I said that it was a male, rather than a female, that I wanted to impress in Greenhope. I’m not aware that this has caused any problems.”

“Hmm… I’m prepared to overlook this deviation from the script, Jeffrey. You’re a skilled agent, and you’ve made small changes to your cover before, successfully. Did you make the change simply to take sexual advantage of David Ward?”

Double shit. It’s a great mercy that your ‘agent persona’ is in control. But reflecting for a moment, you and Dave appeared together at The Curiosity’s; and you were both quite open, in a public place, about your intending to be sexual partners that very night. So it’s no surprise that the Colonel knows about it.

“No, Colonel. I changed the cover story well before I was significantly involved with Ward.”

The Colonel is obviously resuming the briefing he’d intended; you got away with it. That’s the most enormous relief.

“You remember your former Lieutenant, Zachariah Mancer? He has turned traitor to Abundance. He was ordered to report to me a few days ago; he has disappeared, and must be lying low somewhere, very likely in the Slums from which he originated. I have put my best Observers to watch all the ways into and out of Ophir: they report that the Mancer has not left the city, and I believe them.

“I now have information that the Mancer is on the move. My sources in… various places… tell me the intention is to steal a rover and make for Noctis. And Anton Rogue has done me a small favour: he tells me that the clinic run by Scott Seeker has put up a sign saying that it will be closed indefinitely from this evening. 

“Scott Seeker is a brilliant man, probably our best scientist in his field. Fortunately for us, he is also a fool to leave such an obvious clue. Whilst we doubt the Mancer is hiding in the clinic itself (really far too obvious), it’s very likely that the Seeker is involved; the Mancer was, after all, the Seeker’s protégé in his teens.

“We are also aware of an unexpected friendship between Amelia Reacher and a performer called Niesha: a clever front, she’s actually a Noctis agent, and rather a good one. This ‘Niesha’ appeared in Ophir some days ago, arriving on Reacher’s rover with a group of dignitaries including Simon Judge, a lawyer in whom I take a special interest.

“The only route out of the city not monitored by my Observers is the one from Reacher’s hangar; it seems certain the Mancer will try to escape that way. I imagine that he will commandeer Reacher’s rover to reach Noctis.

“And I want you to stop the escape, using every means at your disposal. There is, however, one extremely important criterion: the Mancer is not to be killed. Wound him by all means; painful injuries will make it easier for us to condition him when he is in our care. And we shall use our deepest conditioning; the Mancer will be as loyal to us as you are.

“It will take the Mancer a little while to reach the hangar; our agents scattered throughout the Slums will slow him down, and possibly even detain him before he reaches the hangar. But the Mancer is sharp and dangerous. Those, ironically, are the qualities for which I particularly desire him.

“Expect the Mancer to be accompanied by Niesha and the Seeker. The Seeker will be a weak opponent. But do not underestimate Niesha under any circumstances; her pistol and poisoning abilities make her as dangerous as a snake.

“I’ll be sending three agents along with you. They’re rough fighters originally from the Slums. Let them do the hard work; they are expendable; you and the Mancer are not. The fact that someone ‘loyal’ from the Mancer’s regiment is opposing him may give him pause for thought.

“The major problem, of course, is the Lieutenant’s Technomancy. I’ve given a lot of serum to one of our research projects, and, fortunately, it’s borne fruit in a suit of armour made from a new insulating material. It seems to be extremely effective at protecting the wearer from electricity in general, and Mancer strikes in particular. There’s just one suit at the minute, and we had it made in your size. Call in at the research lab on your way out, and they’ll fit the suit on you. I’m assured that the risk of you being significantly injured by a Mancer strike is low.”

“And a final reminder: I repeat, the Mancer is not to be killed. You may go.”

“Yes, Colonel.” You steel yourself to do something rather dangerous. “Permission to ask a question, Colonel?”

“That’s very unlike you, Jeffrey. I’ve never heard you say anything except, ‘Yes, Colonel,’ before. But I’m quite pleased with you, so I’ll allow it.”

“Colonel, do you know where David Ward is?”

“Ah… Ward has betrayed us. I’d convinced him to spy on the Mancer; but under the slightest of pressures, he caved in and told the Mancer everything, or so I assume.” You allow your face to show an entirely fake shock; you’re not supposed to know that Dave was working for the ASC, because he told you in secret in the cave outside Ophir.

“Someone matching Ward’s description was seen by one of my Observers on a Merchant sand-sail; those can go in various directions, but Noctis seems the most likely destination. I knew that you and Ward had become sexually involved from his reports. I should, in hindsight, have got you to seduce him, as the feelings you could have engendered in him might have made him more pliable. Hardly a serious oversight. He’s completely insignificant in my plans.”

  


Leaving HQ in the new suit (which seems very impressive), you reflect on things. Both the Colonel and Tom Goodsman have said (more or less directly) that Dave has gone to Noctis. You are of course well aware that the Colonel is more than capable of lying, or, more deviously, setting up Goodsman with a suitable leaf to trick you. But it doesn’t seem too likely. Very few people venture out of Ophir to pick leaves. Or even know where to pick them. And the Colonel confirmed the rumour that he’d ordered the Lieutenant to report to him. And given that the Lieutenant is so important to Viktor (for reasons you can’t really fathom), again it’s likely to be true. Or approximately true. The Colonel still seems to believe that you are loyal. You smile, carefully. That’s his mistake.

You’re not quite clear why the Colonel’s sent three agents with you. It may be simple caution on his part; it’s also possible he doesn’t fully trust you. The latter seems unlikely; the Colonel has always had complete faith in you so far, and you’ve done little to dissuade him. Maybe the three have been sent simply because they are to be eliminated; the Colonel has done this before, robbing potential rivals of loyal supporters by sending those supporters on suicide missions. You pause a second, then put the idea out of your mind; everything looks fine.

You meet up with the three agents at the designated point. You don’t know them personally; and their skills differ markedly from yours. But you know from the emblems on their uniforms (obvious only to the skilled eye) that they are vicious bruisers who can very easily inflict a world of damage.

Getting them primed for taking out is actually quite easy. You’ve chatted them up fairly carefully before even getting to the hangar; that rookie character you play works really well for this. You play it a bit dumb, a bit naive, tell a few silly stories; calm them into thinking you are a bit gullible. Most importantly, they don’t consider you any sort of threat; that is the essential thing. Either they don’t know you’re in the Colonel’s Hand, which is fine; or they know, but conclude from your behaviour that your admission to that elite unit must have been a mistake.

You wait, as planned, for the Lieutenant and his party to arrive. The one thing you can guarantee about them is that they aren’t going to support ASC troops. At the very best, they might fight alongside you; at the worst, they’ll just stay out of things. They’ll not attack you if you’re fighting ASC members yourself. So you’re confident they’ll not be dangerous… in the early stages.

The ASC agent with the shield is fairly slow, and isn’t going to be a problem provided you keep clear of him; you’ll hear him if he tries to creep up on you, for instance. Important not to get side-tracked by the other fighters, of course.

Amelia Reacher proves rather difficult; mouthy and confident. It’s surprising that the Colonel would allow someone as independently-minded as she is to have access to this sort of equipment. But then, being a poster-girl for Abundance does give her some protection; her disappearance or prosecution would guarantee a scandal. You tell her that you’re Abundance troops here to stop a terrorist, but she’s not buying it. 

“Who the fuck do you think you are? It’s my warehouse, you prick. If there was a terrorist here, I’m pretty sure I’d have seen his ass lurking around.

At which point the Lieutenant appears, with (as the Colonel had predicted) Niesha and the Seeker. You now remember seeing Niesha when she and various others arrived on the rover in this very room some days ago. You need to give a quick pep-talk for your companions, so you say, very forcefully and not at all rookie-like, “Lieutenant. Sorry to ruin things… but your little mission ends here.”

And you particularly enjoy calling out, “Stop the traitors!” whilst of course being a traitor to the ASC yourself. The Mancer immediately launches an electric arc at you; you put your trust in the scientists who designed your suit. And it turns out to be trust well-placed; the suit withstands the charge well, although you aren’t sure it will hold up to very many more. And your cry to stop the traitors has the desired effect: your three companions move forward on the Lieutenant and his party immediately.

And they aren’t worried at all that you, as their leader, stay back as they cheerfully run forward. It’s almost too easy: three rapid leg-shots, one per agent, disable them completely. The agent with the shield, carrying a lot of weight, hits the floor with an especially satisfying thud.

Your rifle’s overheated, and needs to cool down: but you doubt that the three are aware of that, being more concerned with their own injuries. Simply ordering them to drop their weapons, whilst pointing the gun at them, works a treat. You finish neutralising the agents by handcuffing them.

You’ve not really been able to plan beyond this point; there were too many variables. But your immediate idea now is to let the Lieutenant and companions take the rover (anything to weaken the ASC is good), while you yourself make for Noctis using your desert skills. But there’s something you have to sort out first.

  


The Lieutenant obviously realises that he needs to look at you with fresh eyes: the rookie persona you adopted was all a sham. He gets Niesha and Scott safely out of the way; Amelia locks them, and herself, in a nearby workroom. There’s quite a long silence as you size each other up.

“So, Jeffrey… what is going on here?”

Probably easiest to be truthful. “As you’ll have guessed by now, my persona as Jeffrey Hunter was completely fake. The Colonel sent me here to stop you. You were to be arrested and taken for conditioning. At the end of that process, you would have been a loyal servant of the ASC, like it or not. And I’m sorry to say that I was a product of their conditioning; it’s very effective.”

“You’re an ASC agent reporting directly to the Colonel, and you’re telling me this. Why?”

“As I said, I was, past tense, a product of their conditioning. But it’s been broken; by the desert, and, in particular, by the Dust, a desert folk; it’s quite possible as a city-dweller you’ve never even heard of them. It’s a long story, and we’re a bit pushed for time at the minute.

“But I need to ask you a question, Lieutenant; and it needs an answer. You left the barracks with David Ward, and I’ve not been able to find him since. What happened?”

You just about manage to ask this question with your ‘agent’ persona; all sorts of very powerful feelings are surging around your skull as you say this.

“David told me he was spying on me for the ASC; actually I felt sorry for him, as they were threatening his parents to make him do so. I told him to leave Ophir, suggested he go to Fiorello and see if he could get transport out. Dave’s good with a mace; merchant convoys would be more than happy to give him free passage in return for help against the desert wildlife. Might even give him a little extra serum when they reached their destination.”

This is the most enormous relief, and you feel able to show that, just a little. “I believe you, Lieutenant. I made my own enquiries; they say the same. Rest assured: if you had killed David, I would, in turn, have killed you… but we’ll talk about that later. Right now, you and your team need to get out of Ophir. The ASC obviously want you; I too have a price on my head, as a traitor; that puts us in the same boat, now.”

Niesha, Scott, the Lieutenant and you all need to leave Abundance, as “traitors”; Amelia, although reluctant to go, would rather help her friend Niesha than help Abundance under the Colonel’s control.

You thought of going to Noctis through the desert on foot, but the Lieutenant insists you join his party on the rover. “I want you where I can see you, Jeffrey. If I left you behind in the hangar, for all I know, you could throw grenades at us as we drove away. I don’t think that’s very likely… but I’m not taking that chance.”

He also has you surrender your weapons and your Mancer-proof suit, presumably so he can hit you with an arc if necessary. You’re not particularly happy about this, but you understand the need. And so all of you pile into the rover, headed out of Abundance, and towards Noctis.

  


  



	8. The Journey

“Just look at this wide fucking valley,” says Amelia. “No tracks on the ground that I can see; no sign of wind-scarring, so it’s not that tracks have been covered by sand. How come no-one goes this way? It’s shorter than the regular route…”

Once Ophir was safely in the distance, she and Niesha had spent time discussing the rover’s path through the desert; Niesha knew the location of Noctis, of course, but not the routes in detail; that was Amelia’s area of expertise.

Wanting to avoid main routes (and therefore elude possible pursuit), Amelia had consulted her father’s notes: the main shadow path curved round from the west to the south, almost in a quarter circle. But close to either end of this segment, the notes showed possible routes on the left: it looked like there might be a short-cut between the two, although it hadn’t been explored. The two consulted and decided to take this “short-cut”.

You’d not been part of this conversation, being kept in the back of the rover away from the controls. There’d been a debate as to whether you should be handcuffed, but the Lieutenant (who had taken on the role of commander) judged that you’d be “safe” enough kept back from the cockpit.

Your rifle, other weapons, and the Mancer-proof suit you were wearing were stowed in a locked compartment; and, in addition, were you to try anything, the remaining party had two guns, a mace and a Mancer. They’d initially assigned Scott to keep an eye on you; but very quickly realised there was no need: any violent move you made would be futile, even if you managed to do some damage before you died.

You weren’t going to provoke them anyway, of course. In fact, you were too wrapped up in your own thoughts, and were glad of the chance to be able to reflect as the rover groaned forward.

  


“Fuck!” But before Amelia even finishes the word, there’s a terrific crash; everyone in the rover is thrown around violently. Scott quickly assesses everyone but, fortunately, it’s nothing more than cuts and bruises. 

Amelia, now that Scott’s finished checking on her, comes out with another welter of expletives, most of them aimed at the dying ostrich that’s impaled on the front of the rover and blocking her side of the windscreen.

“Well, we can pretty much forget any hope of rescue. We were deliberately taking an unfrequented route so that there was less chance of someone finding our tracks and wondering where the fuck we were off to. We can stay in the rover a bit, yeah; but without the engine, there’s no cooling, there’s no water generation: don’t like to be a downer, but we’d be lucky to be alive in five hours.”

You can see she’s a brave woman: she absolutely understands the situation, and clearly is frightened rather than worried; but she’s holding herself together. Good for her.

You start to reflect on your options; and none of them is particularly good. Yes, you could just head out on your own; unlike the other folk in the rover, you’d probably make it.

“Okay, let’s get out and see what’s going on,” says Amelia, “just on the off-chance that we can make a repair.”

You’ve recovered from the collision well enough to be aware of a serious potential problem. Using the forceful voice you used in the hangar, you say, “Lieutenant… we need to stay in the rover,” and then more normally, “until we’re sure of where we are. If my surmise is right, we’ll be in danger if we go outside. I’ve not been able to chart our course properly, being kept in the back and all, but I suspect we’re close to the most important of the Dust Sacred Sites.

“Do I have your permission to come up to the cockpit and look through the windscreen?”

Best to keep it as though the Lieutenant were still your commanding officer; of course, you don’t have one of those now, do you?

“Yeah, okay, Jeff… I was worried about you interfering with the controls or our driver, but we’re not going anywhere now, are we?”

“And you’d fucking well not be interfering with me anyway,” says Amelia, acidly.

Fortunately there’s an area of the windscreen clear of crazing and ostrich remains. You don’t know this exact location, but you know you’re close to a Sacred Site that you do know well.

“We’re not on one of the shadow paths, are we?” you say, more as a statement than a question. “Because those carefully detour the Sacred Sites.”

“So how do you know we’re near one of those?”

“Never visited this exact spot before, but I know the Site itself; whenever I visit, I take a Route no rover could. I know the geography around the Site, even though I may not have visited every metre, because there are so many Dust songs and legends about the place. The side-valley sloping down to our left is the start of the Sacred Site from this direction. Look to the left and right there: see the stones with symbols on? They’re located in permanent shadow, at the head of the valley; might not be easy to see if you don’t look carefully. They mark the entrance to the place where the Desert gods danced.”

There’s a brief silence in the vehicle. Niesha in particular looks at you astonished.

“How do you know all this? I know a very little about the Dust; they seem to keep well away from us.”

“It’s a two-way street. The Dust keep away from folk in the Corporations and cities; but then you keep away from us, too.”

Niesha starts to laugh, a beautiful contralto song.

“Now Jeff, I know you have a silver tongue… but you one of the Dust… has to be one of your best bullshit lines.”

Amelia is much more caustic, “Yeah, and I’m the fucking queen of the desert. Do you actually know what you’re saying? You don’t even look like one of those Mutants.”

You smile in acknowledgement, and then say, deadly serious, “I know far more about the Dust than you can imagine. I explained briefly to the Lieutenant, I can explain to you all in detail later; but, very briefly, it was the Dust that broke my ASC conditioning. I’ve been initiated as one of them. Don’t have the usual tattoos, because if I wore them in Ophir, I’d be put straight in the Mutant Pen.”

The laughter that greeted your first words dies down and is replaced by unease.

“We need to be very careful here. Pretty sure it’s the time of one of the major festivals. And the Dust will not take kindly to the intrusion of what they call a Complexity, a word they use for any sort of mechanism. Lots of things about our society have no meaning to the Dust; Complexities are one of those.”

“Simply passing close to the Sacred Site might have been forgiven, had we been on foot and obviously lost. Having the Complexity here is very definitely a big problem. In fact, I’m not sure that outsiders will have been here recently, if ever.”

“So let me repeat: we’re in danger here. We’ve got weapons, of course, but the Dust have bows, and arrows coated with jellyfish venom. Those arrows just need to pierce the skin; they don’t (and won’t) do any significant damage themselves, but they are one hundred percent fatal. Dust archers can move silently and are essentially invisible to the untrained eye.

“I know what to look for: already I’ve spotted two archers quite close to the rover. If we get out, and they think we’re a threat, then it’s the end for us. Even for you, Lieutenant, and even though you’re the most powerful Mancer I’ve ever seen.”

A pause. Amelia pipes up again, “Okay, so, mister Desert Master,” (you can hear her putting quotation marks around the last two words), “what the shit do we do now?”

“I can try to talk to them, but I need to prepare. Anyone stepping out of the vehicle in uniform will be killed immediately: they’ll be thought to be armed and taken for a threat, not unreasonably. Let me hunt around for what I need. Got any camouflage paint in this rover, Amelia?”

“Why would I? This isn’t a fucking military vehicle, dumb-ass.”

“Anyone else…? Okay, Niesha, may I use some of your make-up?”

This request is met by a mixture of eye-rolling and curiosity from the rover’s inhabitants; the latter winning out as time goes by.

You loot a roll of bandage from Scott’s medical kit, and wrap it round yourself as a loin-cloth after stripping. Amelia makes a few ribald comments on the view: you tell her to shove it.

It’s hard to mark yourself properly in the cramped space without a mirror, but you manage (you hope) well enough. It doesn’t need to be particularly accurate; but it does need to make you quickly recognisable as a member of the Dust. Then you get out, telling the rover’s inhabitants to stay put.

“If I come back, then we can talk about what to do next. If I don’t come back… well let’s just say it’s been nice knowing you.” And with that, you’re off.

  


The rover’s inhabitants watch you walk away down the valley, not knowing quite what to make of this. “Well,” says the Lieutenant, “this is much more entertaining than I’d expected.”

After a couple of minutes, they see a few desert folk approach you; and, very much to the surprise of the watchers, there’s obvious happiness and laughter.

After a while, a white-haired naked woman walks over, and seems delighted to see you. There seems to be more talking and laughing, and then… you turn back towards the rover.

You’re back at the door within thirty minutes.

It’s Niesha who breaks the silence; there’s astonishment in her voice. “So it wasn’t just bullshit. And you actually spoke to a Desert Mistress?”

“To one of the Wise, yeah. I was particularly fortunate; I met Sand, who was in charge of my Learning. Not unexpected to find her here for the ceremony, of course. We have safe conduct out of here, which is a relief.

“We need to leave the rover, obviously. Not an expert on this Complexity, but it looks as though it’s going to need extensive repair: one of the tracks is off; probably lots of other damage my unskilled eyes can’t assess. 

“The Dust maintain that the Desert has powers that are beyond even their understanding. And legends say that Sacred Sites are Protected. So I don’t think the rover just happened to hit an ostrich, just here; I think we were stopped as a danger to the Site. Not by the Dust, but by the Desert itself. Yeah, I can see you think this is all just woo-woo; but having seen some of the things the Desert can do, I can believe it.

“Let’s talk about the journey. It’s getting late in the day, so it’s cool enough for us to be able to travel safely. Now: this is real important: if we encounter any of the Dust, and are questioned by them, it’s essential we tell the complete truth, whether or not we find it convenient. Lying is a serious business to the Dust; nothing you say subsequently will ever be believed, and you’ll be viewed as a moral pariah. So I’ve been careful to tell no lies: I’ve said we’re travellers seeking refuge from Abundance, going to Noctis. 

“I don’t think there’ll be a problem with taking small weapons, but keep them out of sight, or at the very least, not immediately available. If you don’t do that, there’s a risk that the Dust will think you’ve kidnapped one of their people. I’d get out of that alive, but you wouldn’t. 

“I’m going to stay in my, admittedly rather fake, desert garb. I doubt you’d allow me a weapon: in any case, it’s rare for the Dust to carry any weapon other than a bow. I’ve told Sand that I’m going to guide you to Noctis, which is true.

“We need to keep moving, of course, but time shouldn’t be too much of a problem; we’re towards the end of the day, and, all being well, we’ll be fairly close to the city by daybreak. We can just get back to the shadow path and follow that. I do know the Dust paths in the area, but I’d only take you on them in an emergency; we Dust like our secrets.

“As a member of the Dust I of course know where Noctis is. We’ll avoid the main gate, and enter the city by the entrance that the Dust use.

“No,” says Niesha, “we go through the main gate. I don’t entirely trust you, Jeff; mean no offence by saying that, it just happens to be true. Happy for you to guide us down shadow paths, because I know them a little myself, and can check we’re going the right way. But I’m not happy for you to lead us on a route into Noctis unknown to me. We go through the main gate.”

“Okay, but I really advise against it. There’s a manta nest just outside the first gate, and several mole colonies between the first gate and the main gate. They’d be no problem in a rover; on foot, we’ll be in danger.”

“Okay,” says the Lieutenant, “we have Jeff guide us to the main gate of Noctis; Niesha can check his navigating. Scott and Niesha, you’ve got weapons you can easily hide; I can tuck away my staff; not sure about your mace and shield, Amelia…”

“Fucking well not leaving without those. I’ll put them in a backpack so they’re not visible.”

In about five minutes, everyone’s ready. You leave the rover, cautiously; you’re careful to leave a few minutes before the others so you can be recognised as a member of the Dust by the archers. Then the rest all follow, the Lieutenant coming out last. The rover is now, mercifully, in shade, and you start on the trek towards the shadow path, and then Noctis.

  


You’re all sitting taking a break; there’s no time to light a fire, but you found some comfortable rocks on which to rest (you didn’t tell the party that they were Sitting Stones). It’s probably around three in the morning. The journey’s going well; you’ve been rather careful to explain in advance your deviations from the obvious route, to avoid bandits or wildlife colonies, for instance. You’re sitting a little way away from the others; they still don’t completely trust you, and it feels more comfortable to sit apart.

The Lieutenant walks over and asks about the progress of the trek.

“We’re making good time; once we start moving again, I’d say a couple of hours before we’re in sight of Noctis. If we move on in the next half hour, we’ll be sheltered there by the time the sun comes up.”

“I’m curious about something. When we were talking in the hangar after you’d dealt with the ASC agents, you said you’d have killed me if I’d killed David Ward… and quickly changed the subject. I assume that was just a random boast?”

“Not at all… I had it planned out rather carefully. Remember I had my suit to protect me from your electric arcs? It would probably only have coped with a limited number of strikes, but it worked surprisingly well.

“I’d deployed some explosive traps in a corner of the hangar, modified to detonate if there was an electrical discharge nearby. If it had come to a fight, I’d have lured you over those… I doubt that even your magnetic shield would have withstood the amount of explosive those traps contained. They’d have killed me, too… but at least I’d have avenged Dave.”

“Impressive; obviously just as well that Dave’s okay, as far as we know. But really, Jeff… you think you could have been a challenge to me in combat? You’re not exactly a member of the Colonel’s Hand, are you?”

“You’re quite wrong, Lieutenant; I can assure you that I am a member of the Colonel’s Hand.” The Lieutenant looks at you, utterly astonished. But he doesn’t laugh; you realise he’s taking you seriously.

“You remember all those ‘lucky’ gunshots and knife-throws, that took out their targets very rapidly? Remember me shooting Boris Ward’s rifle out of his hands, with my gun still at my waist? That wasn’t luck; it was training. And if you think I’m too young to be a member of the Hand… well the ASC were training me from the age of, I guess, two. I thought of them as my family; I never knew my parents, suspect they were liquidated. There’s lots more I can say, and I will; but let’s talk about it when we’re in Noctis, and out of danger.”

  


Shortly before daybreak, you see the first gate in the distance. You’re simultaneously tired and relieved. “Okay,” you say, “it should be safe to get your weapons out now. And I’d advise it: I can feel a manta nest not too far away.”

“You’re bullshitting, right?” says Niesha.

“Absolutely not. Going barefoot, and with Dust training, you can pick up a lot of things that aren’t obvious to the uninitiated. Mantas vibrate very slightly to sense targets close to them; they’re listening for the echos of those vibrations. I can feel those mantas at the moment; they’re about ten metres from us, towards the gate.”

Niesha raises her eyebrows, but heads for the gate stealthily; and within the range you’d mentioned, the mantas strike. They aren’t difficult beasts to put down; the Lieutenant’s arcs are particularly effective. But their lunging bites can be dangerous, especially if they become infected.

Mercifully unharmed by the mantas, you head through the first gate; you then have the main gate and safety in sight.

There’s a Noctis rider between you and the main gate, mounted on an ostrich. The bird looks at you quizzically, then looks towards the first gate rather intently. Quite suddenly, a mole colony launches itself close to the ostrich; the bird had obviously picked up the danger too late. It’s killed within seconds, throwing off its rider.

The rider tries desperately to crawl towards you but is caught by other moles and, despite firing the gun she carries, is killed. It’s just as well that you advised the party to have their weapons ready.

The guards at the main gate respond by opening the roof to let in the sunlight to kill the moles; but Niesha screams at them to stop, which they do, just in the knick of time. This unfortunately means that you have to deal with the moles yourselves.

Just before the fight begins in earnest, you hear a cry from the gangway above the gate; there’s the sound of running boots, and Dave appears rushing down to the gate, mace and shield at the ready. You’re overjoyed and flooded with relief to see him once more. But at this point the moles attack, and the struggle, even with Dave’s help, is desperate.

You are unarmed, of course, but at great risk, you run towards the fallen rider and take her pistol; she also has a usefully sharp knife that’s fallen beside her body. The pistol is only useful at short range; you keep the moles from attacking you by swinging the knife around yourself, and occasionally, if the moles pause, fire the gun; but you’re not really geared up for attack. And certainly not defence; wearing just a loincloth leaves you very vulnerable indeed to the moles and their claws. Fortunately you’re agile enough to escape with just a few scratches. The moles are so tightly packed, though, that there’s no prospect of you fleeing to the safety of one of the nearby staircases or gangways.

Once the moles are down, a second nest erupts, a little closer to the gate; and then a third after those have been dispatched.

Once all of these are down, to everyone’s immense relief, you start to catch your breath, and stroll, not thinking clearly in your exhaustion, to a corner of the courtyard. At which point you’re suddenly surrounded by a fourth mole colony. You can keep the animals at bay with your knife, but you need to use it so desperately that you can’t fire the gun. And you feel the animals closing in on you, the braver ones in particular; finally a random strike from one of them knocks the knife out of your hand. You know the score now. You’re quite calm at the prospect of your imminent death; you’re out of Ophir, and you know that Dave is alive. Then, quite suddenly, the air is full of ozone; you hear the screams of dying animals, smell their burning flesh. Then pain and darkness envelop you, and you know no more.


	9. Recovering

Dear Mom and Dad - I can’t say very much at present, except that I am safe. I’m not in Ophir, and I think it will be a long time before I’m able to return. Please believe me when I say that I have not betrayed the Army. I’m able to make a living providing security for the merchant convoys, so I’m sending some serum along with this letter. I’ve asked the merchant Fiorello to bring it to you.

I’m looking after Jeff at the minute; he was critically injured in a mole attack and we still don’t know whether he will survive. The attack happened before we could even greet one another after being apart since I left Ophir. But I watch him fight constantly to stay alive, even in a coma, and he gives me hope and strength. I shall always be thinking of you.

Your loving son, David

  


Very slowly, you seem to be becoming aware. Of what, you’re not quite sure.

It feels as though some time has passed. You’re lying down. You’re not sure what you’re resting on at the minute. But it seems comfortable. A bed, perhaps? That would make sense. You’re part-covered in something very light, perhaps a sheet. Despite that, you’re at a comfortable temperature: guess the room you’re in must be pretty warm.

Through your closed eyelids, you can sense a fierce light shining ahead of you. But it’s not scalding your skin, so it’s not direct sun. Your tongue seems to be sticking to the roof of your mouth. Are you in pain? There certainly was pain, yes, but it seems to have gone at least for now.

You realise you’re feeling rough. Not, however, as rough as you were a day or so ago. Or was it longer than that? Hard to tell.

Your eyelids are heavy and sticky. It’s hard to force them open, but eventually you manage; and are almost blinded by the light coming in through the open windows at the foot of the bed.

There seems to be someone to your right. Your head feels very heavy; turning it to the right is slow work, but it’s not painful.

“Hey, Rookie, welcome back!”

A man, sitting cross-legged on the floor beside the low bed. Abundance Army uniform, regulation haircut needing a bit of a trim; must be a soldier. Are you in Ophir? Quite suddenly and unexpectedly, you feel an enormous surge of emotion. Puzzling, because you can’t remember who the man is.

The man takes your hand; you realise this feels good. “You’ve been here a few days, Rookie. Don’t worry… I’ll tell you all about it later.”

And then you realise… this man is called Dave… and you’ve been searching for him… and… Your vision is suddenly quite blurred; Dave gets a soft cloth and is wiping your face and eyes, very gently. And he’s trying to speak, but his voice is choked. But finally, he manages to say, “Oh, Rookie… so good to have you back…”

There’s a long pause while Dave controls himself, distracts himself with tidying the bed (actually not necessary; the only movable item is a light cloth covering your groin).

Dave clears his throat. “Glad to see you awake. We were all shitting ourselves with worry. Been beside you all this time.” 

“Need to get you to the shower down the corridor, but you’re far too weak for that at the minute. I’ve wiped you down with a damp cloth, but you really need a bit of deep cleaning.”

You chuckle slightly at that. Your throat is very dry, so not much sound comes out. Dave, sensing your need, is already supporting the back of your head, and puts a cup to your lips. The liquid tastes… strange; there are bits floating in it. You make a quizzical noise.

“It’s okay Rookie: there are herbs in it to reduce the pain and the confusion. You need to be drinking lots more: you’re still very dehydrated. But you’ll do that, no sweat.

“There was a fight with moles. Remember that?”

Perhaps…?

“Well, there’s plenty mole meat around at the minute: Andrew brought round some mole soup early this morning, we’ll feed you up on that. You hungry?”

You’re starting to lose focus, and are finding it hard to understand what Dave is saying. Suddenly, sleep seems enormously inviting. 

Dave is starting to look concerned: or rather, he’s concerned but trying not to show it. His voice remains cheerful, though.

“Tell you what, Rookie. Let’s give you another sip of that medicinal tea; then you take another nap. How about that?”

Sounds like a good idea. You’re aware of Dave, very gently, combing his hand through your hair as you drift off.

  


Dave’s still there when you next wake. You feel more yourself, but your head is pounding, and your throat is still very dry.

You realise you’re feeling curious, which seems a new feeling. You start to look around. You were heading to Noctis, so you suppose you must be there. Though that doesn’t tell you much, as you’ve never been to the place before.

You’re in a room that’s a fair size, a breeze blowing in through two open windows at the foot of the bed. There’s a pleasant racket outside; perhaps you’re above a market? Sounds like traders are calling out their wares; a vaguely busy sound. The air smells warm and spicy, but has a very unpleasant tang.

It’s odd… there’s a lot of light in the room, and yet there are candles burning?

Dave, ever the soldier, has the room organised neatly: his few belongings stacked tidily in a corner, mace and shield close to the door. There aren’t any chairs as such, but there are a few rugs, and several cushions on the floor, one of which Dave is sitting on.

Dave must have caught your movement and he turns. He talks softly. “Awake again, Rookie? How’s it going?”

“Head hurts and I’m… I think I’m thirsty.”

You feel surprised that you’re able to speak; your voice is very weak. For some reason, you smile.

Dave smiles too. “You’re a bit more with it this time. Weight off my mind, Rookie. Let’s get you some more to drink.”

And Dave fills a cup from a nearby jug. “You need help lifting your head, Rookie?”

“No, I’m going to do it myself.”

It’s a bit of a struggle, but you’re determined, and you manage it. Dave holds the cup to your lips. Must be the same liquid as last time, except this time it tastes… delicious. Must be your thirst.

You manage another two full cups of liquid with Dave’s help. At last your mouth feels less dry.

“You up to answering a question, Rookie? Just has a yes-no answer. If you don’t feel up to it, no sweat.”

“Fine.”

Dave seems a bit embarrassed. “They’re saying you’re a member of the Colonel’s Hand, Rookie. That true?”

Under normal circumstances, you would think very carefully indeed about how to answer this question. But these aren’t normal circumstances, and your mind is cloudy. You feel that Dave deserves the truth in any case.

“Yeah, I am. Or, I guess, was.”

Strangely, Dave manages to look impressed and unastonished at the same time. “Not fucking surprised at all, Rookie, believe me. And it’s not only down to the quality of your marksmanship. I watched as you fought and fought to stay alive in this room. Anyone else, and certainly me, would just have been swept away by the trauma you’ve had. But you just kept on fighting. Such utter fucking mental strength befits an elite fighter. Respect, Rookie: real proud of you.”

You look over at Dave; the haunted look in his eyes you’d noticed all your time in Ophir seems to have gone; that’s good. At this point, there’s a gentle tap at the door. 

When Dave opens it, the door seems to open onto complete darkness. Then you realise that the light from the corridor is being blocked by the body of an enormous Mutant.

Phobos squeezes his way through the door-frame and takes a seat on the floor towards the foot of the bed; Dave sits back by your side.

It takes you a moment to remember your visitor’s name… “Phobos! I…” but Phobos cuts you short with a wave of his hand. And a smile.

He says gently, “Save your strength, Jeff. Glad to see you’re still with us. We, the Mutant Nation, owe you a lot. We trusted your strength; we hoped and believed you would survive. And you did.”

Another smile. Dave seems puzzled. “Okay, I’ve heard so much about Jeff that’s different from the rookie shit he pulled on us Army guys. But what’s this about the Mutant Nation?”

You start to answer, but your voice is still weak. Fortunately Phobos comes to your rescue. “Think it might be easier if I fill you in, Dave; it will save Jeff’s voice. That okay, Jeff?”

You nod; it’s a good plan. “Feel free to comment if that suits,” he adds.

You try to push yourself up into more of a sitting position, but you feel weak and giddy doing so. Dave leans over to help, and Phobos moves round to put a huge hand behind your back, and steadies you as Dave tucks some cushions behind it. You’re now somewhere between lying and sitting: and actually the change of position feels good.

“Jeff started working with us a few years back, when he started to follow the Way of the Dust.

Our sisters and brothers in the Mutant Pen in Ophir collected information for us, of course, but because they were given menial roles, they saw very few really important documents. It was Jeff who started to feed us classified information which helped us enormously. Jeff took enormous risks: his position in the elite, which gave him access to the information, also meant a certain and viciously painful death if he was detected.

“But as a very experienced covert operative, who had access to much of the ASC’s classified information, Jeff was invaluable. He could tip us off about threats to our Mutant siblings in Ophir. He once saved an entire caravan of Mutants from extinction; they were to be sent to clear an area contaminated by toxic waste. With Jeff’s information, we were able to intercept the convey and free our people before they reached the area.

“Very rarely, if Jeff happened to be in the desert at the right time, he could help us directly with a military operation. But most of the time he had to keep his head down. He and I recognised each other, of course, when I disguised myself as Beg and was in the Mutant Pen. I think we must both be good actors; no-one spotted that we knew each other.

“I wonder whether you remember that, as Beg and near Fiorello’s stall, I made a tremendous fuss that the ‘nice man’ Jeff had given me a leaf? That leaf was actually our way of passing on information; particular leaves meant particular things. Jeff was from Greenhope and so knew a lot about plants; it was natural that his locker would contain leaves. We hid passing information in plain sight.

“That a fair summary, Jeff?”

“Yeah, Phobos. Glad to help your people. In fact, maybe I can now finally say, ‘our people’”.

Phobos is obviously pleased by this and smiles. “I have some more medication from the Dust healers for you. You seem to have enough candles, but I’ve brought some more of the seed pods.”

You’re a bit puzzled by this. “Wondered why there were candles when the room was so bright. Why are they here, anyway?”

“The candles contain spices which your healers say change the air, bringing strength and stamina. Which Jeff needed, of course. But actually they were just as much for you, Dave: we could see the weight you were carrying, and we knew they would help you stay strong. If you became too weak to care for Jeff, then we would lose him, too.

“As for the seed pods: Dave has been breaking them under your nose and getting you to inhale them. They’ve helped to restore your nervous system after the tremendous shock you took.

“I had a word with Scott: Ophir medicine could do nothing to help someone in your condition; and was unaware of these plants. But then they grow only in certain remote places, as you know.

“Both of you are fortunate. Dave has been looking after you the whole time; others of us were more than willing to take his place and give him some respite, but he wasn’t allowing it.

“And the reason you are still alive, Jeff, is because of the strong Bond that exists between you and Dave. You can’t see it, of course, and perhaps you don’t believe in such things, but I am quite certain that it was that which kept you in our world.”

For the first time in a while, you start to feel curious about what has happened.

“So what did happen to me?”

“I only heard second-hand”, says Phobos. “Dave was there from the first, and can fill you in far better than I can.

“And if you’ll forgive me, I need to be going.” He grins. “Quite a few calls on my time at the minute.”

And smiling at the two of you, he’s off, leaving you together. Dave sits down again.

“This tale is going to take a while to tell, Rookie. You up to that?”

You think for a moment.

“Not sure. But I admit to being curious, so make a start. If it gets too much for any reason, I’ll ask you to tell me the rest later.”

“Fine, Rookie. What do you last remember?”

“We were at the gate of what I assumed was Noctis. An enormous pod of moles had erupted in front of the gate, and we were struggling to contain them. Heard a cry from the gangway above the gate, and saw you charging into the battle, shield and mace in hand. I was so happy to see you… but couldn’t let it distract me from the fight.”

“Just as well you stayed focused, Rookie: that fight was one of the toughest I’ve been in.

“Just when we thought we’d wiped out all the infesting moles… three fucking nests of them in all… another huge nest of the fuckers erupted around you… you just disappeared under them.”

“Yeah, think I remember that. I could feel their breath in my face. Really thought that was it… but I was determined to go down fighting.

“And I realised then, even though it might well be the end, that I was glad I had made it out of Ophir. And glad that I’d seen you again, even at a distance. Then searing pain, and everything went black.”

It takes you a moment to catch your breath; you realise it’s not just physical weakness, but the emotional turmoil of reliving that battle.

“You okay, Rookie?” You nod; Dave takes over the tale.

“Yeah. I remember seeing you disappear in a sea of those creatures. Seemed so unfair: we’d fought so hard, for so long, then suddenly as many of those fuckers appeared as we’d managed to put down before. And we were all so exhausted by that stage.

“I don’t quite know what the Mancer did: he threw his head back, a charge seemed to gather round him, which built for a good five seconds. His eyes seemed to be replaced by balls of lightning, and he seemed to rise off the ground. And then he released all that power into the mole pack. Never seen anything like it in my whole fucking life. The air was full of the animals’ screams as they burned and convulsed, and full of the stench of their blood and shit and burning skin.”

Dave takes a deep breath.

“We hauled those beasts off you, and you… you just weren’t moving at all. I was screaming at you to wake up. And… well, maybe I imagined it, but I think you managed to look at me and give me that silly grin of yours. Then you passed out completely.

“Scott examined you first. You didn’t have any injuries as such, but your entire nervous system was fried. Pupils fixed and dilated, no response to pain… I’m telling you, Rookie, I was scared shit-less.

“Scott was mentioning stuff like neurological damage, which he had no means of dealing with away from Ophir. Or even in Ophir. The rover was a couple days away; and Amelia had stripped it of any excess weight, so there was very little medical apparatus there anyway, even if we could have got back to it.

“Got even more scared when the Mancer went over to you: he put his hands either side of your head, paused a minute, took his hands away, and just shook his head. Don’t know what shit he was pulling, but he didn’t need to say anything afterwards: it was clear he thought this was it.

“Got a stretcher from the Noctis guard and carried you here. First days were rough. You didn’t respond to anything. There was nothing we could do. All I could do was to try to keep you alive and see whether you’d pull yourself round.

“Scott rigged you up with an IV line to get some fluid into you, fitted you with a catheter. Said it was real important to make sure you kept hydrated.

“We talked to the Noctis healers, of course, but they couldn’t do anything to help.”

“Then Phobos showed up. Didn’t recognise him at first; of course I was used to his disguise of Beg. But you know what? He’s the sort of guy you instinctively trust.

“Said he’d had a word with healers of the Dust about your condition. Something about them having herbs that could help. Sorry to be so vague, Rookie… I was exhausted and stressed and worried when all this happened. Anyway, he left me with those, and some coils of fabric: still have no idea what the fuck those were for, but they’re still around somewhere. 

“I nursed you for the most part: Scott took turns in the early days. Had to turn you every few hours so you didn’t get pressure sores… you just weren’t fucking moving at all, Rookie. I think it was even worse than my first sight of you after the battle…

Sometime during the second day, you started to move, just a very little. You’re some fighter, Rookie…. you just fought your way back to life. You’d start to open your eyes: don’t think you actually saw anything, you were so out of it, didn’t understand what we said. But now we could lift your head a little, put a spoon of liquid into your mouth and you’d swallow. I started to hope, then.

“Then you finally woke today, Rookie, and we’re talking, and…

Dave pauses, then continues talking although his voice is close to breaking, “I just feel so fucking glad you’re still here…”

And, to distract himself, Dave wipes his hand across his face and changes the subject. “Think you can take some more of that tea, Rookie?”

It’s much easier to drink now you’re half sitting up. The “tea” still tastes delicious. And more than that, you’re starting to feel hungry. Good sign.

“Right, Dave, off to the shower.”

“Hold it a damn moment, Rookie. I have complete respect for you as a fighter… but I don’t think you’ll make it there. At least, not without help.”

You give Dave a ferocious stare. “Rookie, in this case I think I’m right. Let’s compromise: I’ll come down to the shower with you; could do with a wash myself. I’ll let you do what you can: if there’s something you need help with, I’m there. Deal?”

You’re actually quite moved by Dave’s concern and his unexpected tact, and smile. “Yeah, wise words, soldier.”

Dave helps you with the IV line, which comes out easily; you manage to take the catheter out yourself; Dave helps you wrap yourself in the cloth that’s been covering you, and you both head down the short corridor to the shower.

It’s a pleasant surprise to both of you that you’re able to walk reasonably well; but if you tilt your head, or try to balance on one leg, or do any of the other contortions you need to shower, you immediately feel giddy. So Dave ends up washing you… but that’s fine.

It’s the first chance you’ve had to look at your body: you’ve obviously been very well cared-for; there are no pressure sores.

There are some small red circles on your skin, presumably where the charge struck. The odd long scratch, too, probably from mole claws. Looking at the dark water on the floor, you realise that you’re utterly filthy: a mixture of sweat and various mole remains, presumably.

Dave dries you both off, and then walks behind you as you head back to his room.

Dave threw open the windows before you left: the air seems wonderfully fresh. Then you realise something. “So that acrid smell in the room all the time was me.”

“You got it, Rookie. Perhaps not entirely your fault: didn’t get to the shower that often myself while I was looking after you. Glad we’re both cleaned up now, I can tell you.

Dave digs into his rucksack for a fresh shirt and underwear for himself.

“When I found you, Rookie, you were just wearing a loincloth. Seemed to be made out of… bandage? Fuck knows why. Whatever, I’ve had to burn it: it was scorched and punctured with holes by the overload, and covered with mole shit. Sorry not to have any spare clothes myself… left Ophir in a bit of a hurry. We can probably sort out some Noctis kit for you. Not as if you’ll be doing anything military for a while, eh?”

And Dave pulls that wide gentle grin of his, which you love. But you reply, kindly but completely seriously, “I’m going to get back into condition as soon as I can.”

And you can see Dave realise yet again that you’re not pretending to be a rookie any longer. “Yeah, sorry, Jeff.”

“You said Phobos brought some rolls of cloth, Dave. You got those handy?

“Yeah, somewhere… Yeah, here’s one. What the fuck is it anyway?”

“A Dust loincloth. Watch and learn.”

And, not quite showing off, you quickly and easily wrap the loincloth around your waist, pass it between your legs a few times, as though it were something you did every morning. And when you were Learning, it was something you did every morning, of course. You manage to do this while sitting, so as not to test your balance. And now you look presentable (at least, for a member of the Dust).

Quite suddenly, you remember the anti-Mancer suit you left back at the rover, and mentally slap your forehead: it would have been a shadow-send against the Lieutenant’s overload. But again, it would have been impossible for the desert journey: far too hot and confining. And your companions wouldn’t have been happy with you wearing it, anyway. 

And then you remember something else. “I got the leaf, Dave… thanks. It was then that I knew you were still alive; after your row with the Lieutenant in The Curiosity’s, I was afraid that he’d killed you, as a spy. Or someone else had. Didn’t know the Lieutenant’s side of the story, of course, because he’d disappeared at the same time as you.”

Dave grins. “Glad to hear that, Rookie. Really wasn’t sure what to do. I talked it over with Fiorello before he got me out of Ophir, and we came up with the plan together. Fiorello knew that Tom was reliable. We weren’t quite sure whether you’d get the message, but Fiorello’s stall was a place we’d often visited; hoped that you might have gone there, as somewhere we’d both visited before. Really glad you got the message.”

  


More tea, some soup, and a few hours later there’s another knock at the door.

“Oh… Lieutenant”, says Dave as he opens the door. His tone is cautious; after all, the Lieutenant is the one who’s responsible for your condition.

“Came to look at your patient”, says the Lieutenant, “How are you, Jeff?”

Before you can reply, Dave stands between you and the Lieutenant. You can understand Dave being protective; after all, you’re completely unable to protect yourself at the minute.

“Dave… it’s okay… please trust me on this. I got to know our, I assume former, Lieutenant rather better after you’d left Ophir; he’s okay in my book. Yes, I was nearly killed by his overload… but from the little I remember, and from the lot I’ve been told, I don’t think there were many options. It wasn’t just my life at risk: everyone in front of the gate was endangered by that mole pack. And everyone in front of the gate was exhausted by then. Sure, I really would have preferred not to be zapped… but there weren’t many alternatives, and time was short.

“Not a Mancer myself, of course… but, in your place, Lieutenant, I might well have done as you did.”

You can sense Dave calming down; the Lieutenant’s also looking a little more at ease. He must surely be feeling some guilt in any case.

“And in response to your kind enquiry, Lieutenant: getting there, I think. Still rather shaky, still rather tired… but I’ve been able to take a shower. I have a very good nurse.”

You’ve taken the precaution of winking at Dave before you say this; the wink’s not needed.

Dave laughs and says, “Yeah, fuck you too, Rookie”. And with that, all remaining tension defuses out of the room. That’s a relief.

Turning to Dave for a moment, you say, “I mean it, Dave. Wouldn’t be here without you.”

Dave looks down and seems embarrassed; but again, he seems to relax.

Quite suddenly you feel a serious warmth for the Ward; he’s a good man, and folk haven’t seen it. Yet. But you have; and others will, in time.

Smiling, the Lieutenant says, “Why don’t you call me, Zach? I’m not a Lieutenant any more.” And he asks to examine you. He explains that Mancers can receive as well as send electrical impulses, wants to check on your electrical rhythms, as he did at the Noctis gate. 

Dave looks at you quizzically, perhaps a little alarmed, but you say, “Fine.” You can understand Dave’s caution, but you say, “Look, if Zach really wanted to hurt or kill me, he could have done that at any time, even from the other side of the door.” Which Dave accepts.

Zach places his hands either side of your head, just above your ears. “I’m just going to fire in some tiny charges, check the echo that your nerves produce. Won’t hurt; there might be a very slight tingling. Might also feel a bit light-headed. Still okay?”

It’s a slightly different prospect from being zapped at a distance; makes the risk that much more palpable. But, even if you don’t completely trust the Mancer… well, there isn’t really an alternative at the minute.

So again, you say, “Fine”.

Zach holds his breath and closes his eyes, and lowers his head slightly as though he were about to unleash one of his electric arcs. And quite suddenly, you feel his energy probing into you: it’s very gentle, almost imperceptible. A strange feeling, but not an unpleasant one.

Zach opens his eyes and relaxes back. “That’s good”, he says. 

“When I did this to you at the gate, your electrical rhythms were all over the place. Didn’t say this at the time, but I’ve never known someone survive who was in your condition. Yet here you are. You really must be a fighter.”

“Yeah, Zach, I think both you and I now realise what a fighter this guy is.”

“Can I check your heart, Jeff? Same drill as before really.”

You’re quite happy about this. And so is Dave; you’re glad.

Zach places just one hand this time over the centre of your chest. A pause as he examines you. Then he smiles.

“Heart’s fine, Jeff. That’s good. You really seem to be getting there. Thought I’d never say that, to be honest.”

“Want to get back to training, myself. Soon as I can.”

Zach smiles. “Whoa… I know how determined you are… now. But your balance will be even better in a few days. Suggest you wait a bit longer.”

You grin, and say, as you used to in the barracks, “At your command, Lieutenant.”

More seriously, you add, “Bit of gentle exercise tomorrow maybe, perhaps ask Dave to show me round a bit.”

Dave grins broadly. “You got it, Rookie.”

  


With the Mancer gone, and having been up for the first time in days, you feel ready for bed again.

“Think I want to lie down again, Dave. I feel fine, but I do feel tired.”

“Yeah, sure, Rookie; do you good.”

“Look, Dave, I can see, at least to some extent, how much caring for me has cost you. You’re free to do whatever you want now. Go out for a drink, see a friend… get a walk or a meal… do what you want to do?”

“To be honest, Rookie, I’d like nothing better than a lie-down myself. I’ve kept it together carefully, but truthfully I’m absolutely fucked. A good rest would really help.”

“Good plan, soldier. Sure I’m well enough to sleep on the floor if you want…”

“Fuck, no, Rookie. Not had the pleasure of sleeping beside you for… what… a fortnight? Not going to put up with that deprivation any longer.”

Dave grins, and you chuckle.

You both undress and lie down. Dave’s changed the bedding; you have a clean sheet to cover you. (The room’s still warm.)

You settle down with you spooning around Dave. You rest your hand on a place that Dave loves you to touch.

“Sorry there’s just this for the minute, Dave; not quite up to anything more yet.”

“Don’t you worry, Rookie. Just having you touch me like that again makes me real happy.

A pause.

“Have to say you look cute in that loincloth, Rookie… almost as good as out of it. Hadn’t realised you were so involved with Phobos or the Mutants… wanna bring me up to speed about what’s been going on?”

So you tell sleepy Dave the story of your work with the Mutant Nation, and your rover journey to Noctis, and the folk you travelled with. By the time you’ve finished, Dave is asleep, but that’s no problem: you can tell him anything he’s missed in the morning.

Very gently you hug the sleeping Ward closer to your body. Dave was right: sleeping together is one of the great pleasures you share. You kiss Dave on the shoulder, and finally fully relax yourself. You’re deeply asleep within seconds.


	10. The Merchant City

You wake late the next morning; both of you exhausted; you from your trauma, Dave from caring for you. As always, you’re awake before Dave; and, as always, Dave dozes for a few minutes before fully awakening. Then he turns over to face you.

“Morning, Rookie. How’re you feeling today?” You kiss him; he very much deserves it.

“Think I’m good… well, perhaps more accurately, better. Headache’s much less vicious, and my thinking seems a bit clearer.”

“I’ll fix us some breakfast shortly. Sorry, Rookie… just wanna doze with you a few minutes more.”

“You doze just as long as you want, Dave. You deserve it. Got a request when you’ve finally woken up.”

“Hmm… and what’s that, Rookie?”

“I’d really love a barracks special.”

Dave laughs with sheer delight. Then he says, surprised and pleased, “You really are feeling better; weight off my mind.”

You both coined the phrase “barracks special” for the sex you could manage in the barracks behind the “curtains” of your shared bunk. Initially it just meant something that wouldn’t wake the dorm (or elicit lewd remarks), a second-best for two guys who really preferred vigorous sex that might get noisy. But unexpectedly, you both found you really started to appreciate a gentler, quieter, slower way of enjoying each other.

There follows what seems a gorgeous eternity of touching and stroking each other’s bodies, kissing and caressing them. Dave is doing more of the work this time, but that’s just fine for you both. And eventually you feel yourself gently drifting away under Dave’s touch.

When you both wake again, you’re relaxed and close; and you’ve obviously slept a long time: the sun is quite high in the sky.

“Thanks so much, Dave.” And you kiss him.

“Hey, Rookie, you’re welcome. I enjoyed it too, don’t forget.”

“Yeah, of course. But I think I finally feel alive again. Early part of my recovery felt like a bad dream, if it felt like anything at all. Even yesterday felt unreal. But what we did just now made me feel like I’m alive. That’s why I’m saying ‘thank you’.”

Dave doesn’t say anything; he just holds you close.

  


“So what do you think, Rookie?” asks Dave. Stepping into the area round the Noctis Gate is a bit of a shock to all the senses. A merchant straight ahead of you calling out her stock: items from all over Mars (her prices, you note, are a bit on the high side). The rocks around and above the main Gate protect you from the sun’s radiation, of course, but they reflect its heat; it really is very warm. The city pavements are very variable; different types of stone, some fortunately rounded rocks, metal plating, staircases; it feels very strange on your bare feet. There’s a kitchen on a higher level near here; they must be getting lunch ready, as the air is filled with a rather tasty aroma.

“Just so lively. I know the Slums was way more relaxed than the Exchange, but you were still controlled: Army in the Exchange, Vory in the Slums, Viktor everywhere. This seems way freer somehow.”

“You got that right, Rookie,” says Dave, and takes your hand.

This is something very new, and very pleasant. Of course you’ve held Dave’s hand (in and out of bed) times without number. But the vast majority of times you walked around Ophir, you were patrolling, and on duty, and thus carrying weapons. Holding hands wasn’t an option, even if you wanted to do it. So the experience here is quite novel. You decide that you’re just going to enjoy it; and, squeezing Dave’s palm gently, you head off.

Although he may not be aware of it yet, Dave’s heroics battling the moles at the Gate have given him considerable prestige in the eyes of the city’s inhabitants. And Phobos and the Dust have, of course, appreciated his care for you.

And perhaps Dave isn’t the only one unaware of his reputation: Noctis is full of chatter about this “normal” human who guided a party across the desert to the Gate, and is actually one of the Dust; so you’re noticed as well.

“If you’re up for a bit of a walk, Rookie, head man here said he’d like to see you. Name of Dandolo. Comes across as really urbane, but he’s as sharp and dangerous as a snake. Strangely, reminds me a bit of Anton Rogue: he’s a lot more suave, and at a quick glance, a lot less threatening: but you can see he’s real vicious under the cover. He’d not be doing Anton’s kind of business, supplying drugs and exploiting sex workers; his business is keeping Noctis flourishing. And, like Anton, he doesn’t care who gets hurt, provided he wins.”

As you head north, you instinctively walk towards the Mutants with their ostriches; they smile and wave, and are obviously pleased to see you. Again this is new: Mutants were enslaved in Ophir, and you couldn’t possibly have walked around in Dust garb there without being, at the very least, arrested.

As you wander towards the palace, you climb a gradual incline, and then there’s a final set of stairs up to the sand-sail bay. Looking around there, you can see a Signpost made by the Dust in the corner; there’s obviously a Route here. You don’t draw any attention to this, as you’re unsure whether Noctis is aware of it (and, if they became aware, whether they would approve).

Phobos is standing to the left of the stairs, and you go over to see him. He’s just finished conversing with a group of Mutant citizens.

“Great to see you on your feet again, Jeff. I thought your recovery would take much longer.”

“Still have quite a way to go,” you reply, “but I’m certainly well over the worst. I know I’d not be here were it not for Dave’s care, and for the herbs you brought me from my people.”

“When I talked with the Dust healers about your condition, we agreed it was best if I delivered the herbs. Dave knew me very slightly as Beg; he’d not have known any of the Dust. And Dave was only going to give you your medication if he trusted the person who was delivering it.”

  


Niesha wanders over to the three of you. “Nice to see you up and about, Jeff. I know I wasn’t the only one to think you’d died after Zach’s overload struck you. How are you feeling?”

“Still not completely recovered, Niesha, but certainly up to a stroll round Noctis; thank you. I have the Dust and Dave to thank for the fact that I’m still here.”

“Look… Jeff… I’m sorry I didn’t trust you on the journey to Noctis. If we’d taken the route you’d suggested, we’d have avoided that terrible fight with the moles; and you’d not have been seriously injured. I’ve got that on my conscience.”

“Please don’t blame yourself, Niesha. In your eyes, I was an Abundance soldier who turned into an ASC member who then said they were in the Dust. Just think about how unlikely that would have sounded for a second. I can hardly blame you not believing me.”

“I also never got the chance to thank you properly, Jeff, for saving our butts after the ostrich hit the rover. I had no idea there was a Dust Sacred Site so close to the main route.”

You grin. “Well, the Dust chose the location deliberately: with the Site so close to a major track, it was ‘hidden in plain sight’, if you like. Somewhere more remote might have encouraged a search-and-raid mission.”

She turns to Dave and chuckles. “You know, I’d been hoping to get to know Dave better… but I see that someone got there first.”

Dave, who never blushes, actually starts to pink up a tiny bit when she says this.

“I do respect your choice though, Dave. Seeing Jeff wearing nothing but a bandage from the med kit… tasty…”

You look over at Dave. You’re tempted to start giggling, but don’t want him to be offended; but Dave has recovered from his embarrassment and is laughing too. He takes your hand. “I’m not going to trade him in yet, Niesha.”

“You’re a lucky boy there, Dave. Look forward to our paths crossing again. Wearing a loincloth suits you, you know, Jeff…?” And she smiles sweetly, very slightly teasingly, and is off.

You look over at Dave, who’s looking after Niesha perhaps a little longingly. “Don’t let me get in the way of your love-life, soldier,” you say; but all you get in return is a slap on the behind.

  


“Found a quick way into the palace, if you feel up to a bit of climbing, Rookie.” You sense your limbs; your sense of balance is fine now, but you’re a bit unsure about your strength. But Dave grins, “Pulling your leg, Rookie; it’s just up a ladder rather than anything more difficult.”

Dave has taken to teasing you gently these days; it’s really rather delightful. The barbs he came out with in the Ophir barracks were, you think, probably related to his need to keep his place in the military “pack”; he doesn’t have to do that now.

You take the ladder up to the right of Phobos, and enter the inner court of the palace. The air tingles with the sound of chiming, but you’re unsure of the source. You think you recognise one of the Mancers from Ophir near the foot of the stairs, but you only saw them at a distance, so you can’t be sure. You weave a way through the various folk in front of you and begin to climb the stairs.

Zig-zagging up the stairs, you finally reach Dandolo’s court room. To your surprise, it seems relatively unguarded; there are a couple of folk with weapons, but it’s nothing like the amount of security that Viktor or even Anton would employ. Dave, out of respect (he’s been here longer than you, presumably knows the rules) leaves his mace and shield close to the top of the stairs.

Dandolo was chatting squatting to an elegant woman sitting on one of the many cushions with which the floor is littered; as you approach, he stands to greet you.

“Ah, Jeffrey… if that is indeed your real name. Until now, I had met rather few ASC members in the course of my life; and most of those I have met I had tortured before I met them. Sadly, even then I learned very little from them, however much pressure I exerted. Had you been an active member of the ASC, you would have shared their fate.

“But you were not just any member of the ASC now, were you? Standing before me I have someone rather special: a former member of the Colonel’s Hand. As I said, someone rather unusual.”

You’re rather astonished by this speech, but you can hardly deny that Dandolo is cunning. He displays a considerable knowledge of the ASC, alongside a casual threat of having you tortured. But it seems he thinks you more useful alive than dead. Perhaps because Niesha now thinks well of you.

“You left by rover and arrived on foot, of course. Niesha’s told me all about the journey; they were fortunate to have you aboard. Everyone would probably have been killed for desecrating a Dust Sacred Site so close to a major festival. In that sense, I owe you thanks: Niesha is far too valuable to me to lose.

“But the rover needs to be moved. Even though it’s off the main shadow path, I don’t want Abundance stumbling across it and thus finding the road that leads here. Zachariah, your former Lieutenant, spoke to the Mutants about recovering it; but they are adamantly against invading a Dust Sacred Site without permission. So I need to ask you to negotiate with the Dust to permit the machine to be moved.”

This doesn’t seem an unreasonable request, all things considered; and if you can establish some sort of rapport with Noctis, it might be useful in the future; it will certainly give Dave a safe base for the minute.

“Yes, I can certainly try to do that. The festival itself will be over within a few days, when the moons change their alignment. We were obviously in haste, and in some danger, when I was last at the Sacred Site; I would be glad to be able to spend a little longer there. I sat at the feet of Sand, one of the Wise. So, with her permission, it should then be possible to recover the rover.

“But… don’t expect this to happen too quickly. I know you want the rover moved; but it’s really not going to be discovered where it is. The Sacred Site itself is what the Dust call Protected; that’s the reason that the rover crashed where it did, so as to stop it entering the Site. You may or may not believe that, of course; but the Dust would say that anyone trying to get to the rover without the permission of the Site would run into similar difficulties.

“There’s another matter: I don’t know how well you know the way the Dust work, but… it’s not what you would regard as business-like. Time is something that the Dust have a lot of, and saving time is frankly incomprehensible to them. I anticipate no problems whatsoever with getting the Site’s permission to move the rover; but I still expect to be there for at least a week. For one thing, Sand, the member of the Wise from whom I Learned, is staying at the Site for some time after the festival. She will doubtless want to talk to me; and I shall be delighted to continue Learning from her.”

Dandolo is clearly not particularly pleased with this; he’s a man who expects things done promptly. But you suspect he also knows a little of the Dust, and is aware that he will have to fit in with their timetable (or lack of it); however much he wants it, the rover is not going to move until the Dust are agreeable; and that will take time.

“Very well. I would of course prefer something speedier, but I shall have to put up with it. There’s one other matter in which I would appreciate your help, though. Zachariah Mancer is convinced that the ASC are trying to establish themselves in Noctis; to be frank, I initially thought he was being paranoid. I expected the ASC snakes to slither in at some point, but not so soon… but he convinced me otherwise. Zachariah believes there are groups of ASC agents here, disguising themselves as belonging to this city. He’s suggested that you look round and see if you can identify any of these groups, and then report to him.”

“Happy to do that, Dandolo, but not sure that my eyes are necessarily any better than anyone else’s here. Given I was a solo operative, it’s very unlikely that I would recognise the agents who’ll be doing this work. In fact, if they recognise me, rather than the other way round, I’m really not going to be helping you at all.”

“Believe it or not, you have the perfect disguise for this work. People will see these two much-discussed newcomers, one of them dressed in a Dust loincloth, one obviously from Abundance… and, because of that… that’s all they’ll see. They will see your exploits, as it were, rather than you personally. And, in the unlikely event that someone has met you before, you would have been wearing a uniform rather than a loincloth when that happened. You will be ‘hidden in plain sight’, which, I understand, is very much part of Dust tradition.

“There’s no suggestion of military action against them today; and you’re simply not strong enough for that at the minute. But your input will be very helpful. So if you feel up to walking round the city with your eyes open, I’d appreciate it.”

“That sounds like a plan, Dandolo. Yes; I’ll be happy to do that. I’m enjoying the city in any case; very much a change from the rather buttoned-up feel of Ophir. I’ll now have an excuse to look closely in all the corners.

  


You actually enjoy your afternoon of reconnaissance, taking in every corner of Noctis’ merchant quarter. It’s the first time in your life you’ve been able to wear Dust clothing anywhere other than the Desert. Dave offers to buy you some Noctis garb, but you say, truthfully, that you’re perfectly comfortable.

Spotting the ASC agents proves not to be too difficult. You deploy your “rookie” personality as you approach one of the suspect groups; you’ve found this very effective at making you seem harmless. Which in this context, of course, you’re not. You have your suspicions about six groups in all; there are groups disguising themselves as merchants, mercenaries and religious devotees. There’s a more senior agent associated with each group; they’re treated slightly deferentially, their subordinates stand up straighter when reporting to them, for instance. ASC members are drilled so thoroughly and consistently to behave like this that they find it hard to behave in any other way.

No-one detects you; a few of the genuine merchants chat to you, discuss your exploits; and all the merchants think you’re going to need clothing. One of the merchants takes pity on you both and gives you some good home cooking “to feed up our heroes”; you accept this very gladly.

  


You’re back in Dave’s room close to the main Gate after a few hours. You’re tired, but pleasantly so; you’re certainly not at fighting fitness, but don’t need to rest for a few more hours at least.

You tuck into the food the merchant gave you (which is delicious), and are sitting chatting when there’s a knock on the door, and Zach and Niesha enter.

The talk turns to business fairly quickly. Niesha hands you a sketch plan of Noctis and asks you to mark the locations of the suspicious groups. She then shows you her own map: her locations are identical to yours. Zach decides to lead the operation to eliminate the ASC spies tomorrow morning. To everyone’s surprise, you say, “I want to help with that.”

It’s Dave that speaks first. “Rookie, I know how determined you are, and I respect that… but you really aren’t up to any sort of combat. There’s a very good chance you’d be hurt, and… well, I’ve seen you hurt rather too often recently.”

“I’m not after joining in melee combat, Dave. What I want is a sniper gun. I’ve spotted a quiet balcony on the palace with good sight of most of the locations, and you know that I’m a reasonable shot.

“Think you’ll find it very valuable having a friendly sniper in the fluid combat you’ll be in: and I’ll be sufficiently far from the action not to be at risk myself.

“Now I really don’t like scaring civilians. But if the worst happens, a sniper shot well above their heads will make them duck and head for cover if possible; which should help protect them if the fighting gets close.

Dave looks at you, and then smiles. “I know that determined look of yours, Rookie… it means: ‘don’t argue with me.’ I’ve learned not to; think it’s actually a good plan, if Zach’s agreeable.”

Zach pauses a minute. “Jeff will have a much bigger range than my Technomancy if he has a good sniper rifle. Is there such a thing in Noctis? His Abundance rifle is still in the rover, of course.”

“Don’t expect that to be a problem,” says Niesha. “Dandolo’s armoury will certainly have a suitable weapon. You’ll need to test it out on the range first, of course, Jeff.”

“Fine. What time is the action due to take place? Noon? Think I’ll not use the Noctis range: some of the ASC agents might see me use it there, and that would spoil the surprise. I’ll take the Dust path out of Noctis; there’s a good flat area near the city that will let me get the feel of the weapon and adjust its sights.”

  


The operation launches, as arranged, at noon the next day and goes very smoothly. Zach takes the entire team who travelled with you, plus Andrew and Phobos, against the groups of agents; with this superiority of force, fights with individual groups are over very quickly, and fortunately no civilians are seriously hurt. Your sniper rifle proves useful: when a group of agents starts cascading down a staircase, it just takes a single shot right at their feet to make them halt and retreat; and their fleeing backs are very easy targets for Zach’s team. And you disable the “religious devotees”, in a more open area, before your team even reaches them. 

“At least now Dandolo will take the threat from the ASC seriously,” says Zach at the debrief. You’ve been glad to help, even though you’re still not at full strength; and you know your contribution has been appreciated.

  


It’s not long after sunrise when you finally start to wake, spooned around Dave. At last, there’s a little breeze, and the cooler air coming through the open window is very welcome. Dave wriggles a little and then settles back into you; his sleepy voice is gentle.

“Hey, Rookie, they give you a medal for fucking? ’Cos that was… just breath-taking.”

You’d decided to treat Dave by doing some of the things you know he really, really likes. It might be considered a thank-you to Dave for caring for you so well (indeed, without him you’d almost certainly be dead). And of course you enjoyed yourself too. Both of those are true, but irrelevant: the reason you did it is that you… love, yes, that’s the right word… the Ward.

Dave will simply get embarrassed or flustered if you try to say this; but you know that he really understands the message if you let your body speak it.

You caress Dave briefly, and then say, “Come on soldier. Time to get cleaned up.”

“Gimme a minute, Rookie… no, gimme a few minutes. I’m enjoying this too much…”

You kiss him on the shoulder, realising once more how much you love the taste of Dave’s skin. And this is perhaps the first time that you fully realise: you can be yourself, and please yourself. You’re no longer a member of the Abundance Army, or the ASC, and even more importantly, you no longer need to pretend to be “Jeffrey Hunter” (a demanding task which took up every waking moment). You don’t have orders to follow: you can just do whatever you wish. And you realise that the last time that was true was when you were a young child.

The smell coming off Dave’s body is rich and utterly intoxicating.

Do whatever you wish. You smile slightly, then start, very gently, licking and kissing and nibbling the muscle in Dave’s shoulder, moving millimetre by millimetre closer to his neck. And you can sense Dave’s body, pressed close against yours, beginning to come alive. And his voice pleading softly, “Don’t stop that, Rookie… please don’t stop.”

  



	11. The Site of the Dancing Gods

“So what’s the plan to recover the rover, Rookie?”

“The Mutants who will actually move the vehicle won’t do so until we have permission from the Sacred Site; I entirely respect them for that. So it’s a matter of going there, getting permission, and bringing the good news back to Noctis.

“So it’s going to be a bit of a long trip. I can get to the site in a day… though, given I’m still not at full strength, it would be better to budget for two. The Dust don’t do things the way a merchant like Dandolo might like. They’ll want me to stay at the Site for some days; and frankly, that’s good with me. Sand, who’s one of the Wise, was the person I Learned from; I want to listen to more of her wisdom.

“This choice is entirely up to you, Dave, but… would you like to come along? I know it’s a long time away from Noctis; but I also know that you enjoyed the little trip we did in the desert when we were back in Ophir.”

“Yeah, really like to. Think I’ve seen the desert only three times: first time was the rover trip with you and the Lieutenant to that Aurora site; second was that lovely time out with you; last was going to Noctis on a sand-sail. That last one was a bit of a blur: think I was suffering from shock or something. Be interested to see more of it… And I’ll be with someone who really knows what he’s doing. Also be good for me to practise not thinking of you as a rookie, but as an initiated member of the Dust.”

You discuss equipment: Dave insists on taking his uniform, mace and shield, and is astonished that you’re just taking a loincloth and a knife. And then not taking the knife, because Dave will have his weaponry with him. The Dust have a saying that “the Desert protects the wise traveller,” and you explain this to Dave.

“Hmm… in the past, I might just have said that was desert woo-woo. Feel a bit more open to it now. But, at least at the minute, I still want serious weaponry with me.”

“Just fine, Dave; you need to travel the way you want to.”

“So what about food, water, Rookie? Going to need quite a weight of kit.”

“‘The Desert protects the wise traveller’, remember? We’ll find what we need as we go. Remember we found both water and shelter in that cave just outside Ophir in our time away? And there’s another reason I travel so light: I’ll stay cooler, so I’ll need less water; and I’ll also need less food. And if it all goes wrong… at least you can knock me out with that mace of yours.”

Dave actually starts to laugh at this point. “Okay, Rookie, I’m in. But I’m taking my weapons, some water, and minimal rations, just in case it all goes pear-shaped.”

“Fine, Dave. Day’s well advanced now. I’d suggest we get some rest, head off a bit before first light. Traditional time for a Dust expedition to start. And there’s good sense to the tradition: we’ll be under cover of caves before the sun’s really high. That suit you?”

  


Only one of the moons is visible as you head out early the next morning. And you notice something new about Dave: he’s stopped the bitching and complaining that he was doing so regularly in Ophir. He’s quiet, focused, moving carefully. In fact, even though he knows so little of the Desert, there are hints that he might become a fine Desert-walker. You’re amazed by this. Talking to Dave about this isn’t a good idea right now (and in fact it makes sense to keep quiet anyway); but you’re impressed.

An early first test is the mantas near the main gate of Noctis. “If I were by myself, Dave, I could move over the sand so lightly that they’d not detect me; there’s a particular walk that they seem to find hard to sense. You’ve got your equipment and boots, so this may be more difficult; but at least we have your mace to deal with them if they jump up.”

“Well, I’d rather not deal with them unless I have to, Rookie. Show me this walk; I’ll have my mace to hand, just in case.”

And you show him: keeping one foot still while slowly sliding the other, then transferring your weight gently between them. It takes time, but it works. And you’re astonished to see Dave follow your example, and very successfully. Despite his heavy Army boots, he can move lightly on his feet when he wants to. You’re out of range of the nest within a couple of minutes.

“Good work, soldier,” you say, and you mean it. The main route goes straight ahead here, but you take a narrow track left between high rock walls. There are more mantas to look out for, and your special walk comes in handy again; they don’t detect you.

“I was wondering how you knew this area so well, Rookie, but now I remember: you came through this way with Niesha and the others.”

“Actually this is new ground for me. Niesha insisted we took a different, direct route to Noctis, against my better judgement: I’ve never been here before. But I can read the Signposts that my people have left… I think I can finally talk about the Dust as my people now. I can sense the Route ahead, which comes with practice. Not easy to explain: it’s possible simply to rely on Signposts, but having a sense of the Route is useful, particularly as it can enable me to avoid some temporary obstacle, like a mole pack.”

There’s a higher path to your right, climbing into the rock wall; you take this. It’s stonier, but still comfortable on your bare feet. With only shallow sand under your feet you can move more quickly and easily. You’re aware of a mole pack beneath you, but they are sufficiently far below that they can’t reach you anyway.

Although you’re well-sheltered from the sun, a hot breeze develops as time passes. You’re quite comfortable in just a loincloth, but Dave is sweating under the weight of his equipment in his fatigues. He willingly accepts your suggestion of a break; you explain there’s a good spot about five minutes ahead.

There’s a small side-cavern beside the trail floored with soft sand. And your instinct was right: on the walls are paintings giving you your location, and showing the various routes up ahead; you’re in fact quite close to a major crossroads.

“Take a seat, Dave,” you say. And then you grin. “Welcome to my home. Well, this one place isn’t my home; but it is a home for the Dust. They call it a Covert.”

Normally, Dave would stand down quite formally, place his equipment neatly, and then sit. But he seems happy enough just to collapse in slow motion onto the smooth comfortable sand. And he laughs.

“You know, Rookie, even when we were talking about this last afternoon, I privately thought you were full of shit, or still suffering from that Mancer arc. But here we are: we’ve made rapid progress, avoided plenty hazards, and… the astonishing thing is watching you. You look as if you’re completely at home; or, perhaps better, somewhere in which you delight; you seem entirely aware and content and living. It’s fucking amazing. Even get to see why you’re almost bollock naked: you don’t need any of the kit I’m taking. Find myself wishing I’d left it behind myself.”

“I had a similar feeling when I first started ASC desert training: the instructors were all about taking supplies and weapons, and somehow I felt that they weren’t necessary. Only when I met up with the Dust, though, did I learn how to live freely here.

“You thirsty? Look in the corner to your right: there’s a patch of a plant, a bit like the “moss” we saw in that cave.”

“Okay, I see it, Rookie, now what?”

“The moss is covering a tiny pool of water, fed by a spring. Way to get the water is simply to lay your face on the moss, open your mouth just a little, and suck very gently. The moss prevents the water underneath it evaporating; water can only go through it when there’s suction above.”

Dave follows your advice and obviously drinks deeply: his outfit is soaked in sweat, and he must be very thirsty.

“Need to watch your salt level, too.” You reach up towards the ceiling, find what you’re looking for, break off a tiny piece of lichen.

“Put this in your mouth. It’s not edible as such, but it takes the salt out of the rock it’s attached to; keep it in your mouth a few minutes until the salty taste fades. 

“I’ll get myself a little water, but I’m at a comfortable temperature, so don’t need to worry about salt.”

“And what if it gets cold, Rookie? Not that it ever does during the day, but nights can be cold at other times of year.”

“Look around at the wall-hangings. They’re the skins of various creatures; those on the right for a cooler autumn night, the one close to the entrance will keep you warm even if it’s close to freezing. And it never drops below freezing in these caverns.”

“Why didn’t you tell me to leave my gear behind, Rookie?”

“I thought of doing so, sure; but I didn’t want to insist. You have to approach the Desert in a way that’s comfortable to you, and this is your first big trip. And you’d probably have thought I was even more bat-shit crazy if I’d insisted. Best for you to find out for yourself. And I’m impressed, Dave: I know all this is new to you, but you’re learning fast. And you seem to be thinking in the right way for the Desert. But perhaps you see now why the Dust wear just a loincloth. If that.”

You move on after the rest. You spent some of that time reading the drawings on the walls, working out which direction to take.

“The rover’s at the head of the valley, but the settlement that guards the Sacred Site is a little bit further down from the rover. There’s always a good track leading to a Sacred Site; we turn left here to get closer to it.”

You travel on for the rest of the day. At path junctions you stop, and search for the Signposts that act as direction indicators. They’re not at all obvious to the untrained eye; the Dust want to keep their journeys to themselves.

The air is starting to cool, and the light filtering through from crevices in the rock high above is starting to fade.

“Should take us about ten minutes to get to a place we can sleep comfortably,” you say. “We’ll need to climb a little to get there.”

And your timing’s good. The sleeping area is a ledge above the track you’re taking; there’s no chance of any wildlife getting onto it and endangering you. In any case, the Dust Coverts are Protected. There are good hand and foot holds, and the ledge is only a few metres above you, so you climb easily. You reach down so Dave can pass you his mace and shield; then you help him up. Dave clubbed a small mole shortly before you got there, so you drag that up as well.

It’s a good example of a Covert. One of the usual water-sources towards one side; coverings that double as clothing or blankets on the walls. You take down a particular one of these and place it on a pond of soft sand. There’s an area of exposed rock to build a fire, with lighting materials beside it. There are ferns and some sort of fungus growing in a damp area; the previous occupants cut down some of the ferns and stacked them near the fire-place. They’re completely dry by now, so it takes you no time to get the fire going. You place two thin flat stones in the flames, and turn back to Dave.

The Ward is lying on his back, obviously tired. In fact, he’s probably napping.

You take one of the sharp stones that serve as knifes and cut the tender flesh from the mole. You can throw the rest of the carcass down to the cave floor below the track: scavengers will have left no trace of it by the time day breaks.

The stones are glowing hot by now, so you (very carefully) take them out of the flames and lay the meat on them. It sizzles deliciously; after a few minutes, you turn it and cook the other side. 

The appetising smell seems to have roused Dave from his slumbers; he’s yawning, but seems hungry.

“Do you need a plate?” you ask Dave, who just chuckles; so you hand him the steak and he tucks into it enthusiastically, the juice from the meat running down his arms.

“If we were out for more than a day or two, I’d have looked for some fungi and plants to go with this; but I think this will be fine just for now.”

You eat in silence for a while. Dave licks his fingers clean and wipes them on the sand. “What’s the plan now, Rookie?”

“We could have made the Sacred Site in a day, but I didn’t want us to rush. Wasn’t sure how well I’d have coped with the journey, but I’ve done better than I’d expected. I suggest we turn in soon, and then start about the same time as we did this morning. Should be at the Sacred Site before the sun reaches it; and then we can start negotiating and Learning.”

It has been a lot for Dave to take in. He settles down and is asleep in a few minutes. Dave nearly always wants to have sex before he goes to sleep; he must be really tired tonight if he’s gone straight to sleep. You’re aware something about the Ward is changing. He’s not had life easy in recent years; you hope times to come will be happier for him. He certainly seems to be enjoying this trip, despite all its privations; as you settle down to sleep beside him, you feel glad of that.

  


You both wake around the same time you did yesterday. Dave has recovered from his tiredness, and is keen to catch up after not having sex last night; so the day starts delightfully for you both. You’d kept some of last night’s cooked mole meat for a simple breakfast. Dust tradition is to replenish anything you use in a Culvert, so you cut down a few more ferns and leave them to dry for the next visitor.

Very soon, you’re on your way. It only takes a couple of hours to get to the Sacred Site; again, your timing’s good. You’re heading into the Site’s huge main cave just as the sun breaks around the encircling rim of the crags; there are just a few Dust here, and one of the Wise. They laugh and wave as you approach, which very much puzzles Dave.

As you explain to Dave, “there are so few Dust that it’s always a delight to meet each another. No-one knows exactly how many of us there are, because the Dust aren’t exactly big on keeping population counts and what-have-you. Personally, I doubt there are no more than a thousand of us on the whole planet. I think it’s a wonderful life, but you have to be strong and healthy to be able to survive it. It’s certainly not for everyone. And there are none of your city comforts, though those are things the Dust don’t value at all themselves.”

The member of the Wise turns out to be Sand, at whose feet you Learned; you are both delighted to see each other yet again. But from the first she takes a very close interest in Dave. Communication is interesting; Sand has moved beyond speech, and her words are spoken by one of her grand-daughters, with whom she has a Bond; and you translate her speech from the Dust tongue to that of Ophir for Dave.

It’s a slow process, but one you find yourself relishing; the Dust have never been ones for doing things quickly in any case. And they place no value on the concept of “efficiency” which is so prevalent in the cities.

When you finally ask Sand whether the rover can be moved, she laughs and says, “Of course. But I still want you both to stay here a while before returning with that message.”

Then she reaches down and takes a coil of soft yellow-green material from a bag. She hands it to Dave, and smiles kindly. Dave is very much taken aback. “What’s going on here, Rookie?”

“It’s a Dust loincloth, like the one I’m wearing. A different colour from mine, of course; the colour marks you out as a Learner. But the Dust don’t use Learner in the way we would; it doesn’t mean,” and here you wink, “that you’re a ‘rookie’. The emphasis is not on your lack of knowledge, but on the speed of your growth. So the cloth is the green of young, fast-growing plants beside a stream.

“Stop, Rookie. Let me get this straight: Sand sees me as someone fast-growing?”

“Exactly. The Dust treat the gift of a loincloth as a great honour: Sand sees the potential in you, like a young plant, ready to burst into life.”

Dave pauses for a moment; he covers it well, but he’s obviously rather overcome.

“So how do I say yes, Rookie? And how do I say, thank you? Think it’s one of the few times in my life that someone’s told me they believe in me.”

“You don’t need to say anything; if you accept it, that’s enough. You can put it on later.”

“Suits me fine, Rookie; I was sweating like a pig in the uniform over the last few days.”

But then Dave does something unexpected. He takes the fabric coil in his left hand, turns towards Sand, and lifts his right arm, bending it at the elbow, to touch his right hand to his heart. Sand smiles broadly, and, after a moment, laughs with pleasure.

Once again you’re amazed; Dave has just performed the Gesture of Respect.

  


You and Dave find a comfortable area in the cave in which to settle down for your stay. Dave seems keen to try on the loincloth; he strips, and then says, “So, Rookie, how do I wear this?”

So you show him how to wind the fabric round himself. It’s an interesting exercise trying to do this on someone else; like tying shoelaces, it’s easy when you don’t have to think about it, much more difficult when you do. You explain that the rather complicated wrapping is to keep the sand out, and ensure the garment is stable however you contort yourself.

Dave looks down at the completed garment. He smiles. “Never thought that being nearly bollock-naked would be this comfortable, Rookie; but it is.”

“Well Dust life is about many things, but it certainly doesn’t include simply being uncomfortable for the sake of it. Very much in contrast to Abundance uniforms!” 

“Still can’t get over being given this when I know almost nothing about the Dust.”

“The Dust do things quite differently from, say, the military. For instance, I trained in desert techniques, passed the appropriate tests, and only then did I get the badge which marked me as ‘desert-skilled’. The Wise (of whom Sand is one) can see the potential in someone. And you have the loincloth, which marks you out as a member of the Dust, right from the start, even though you still have much Learning to do. If you like, the Dust give you the qualification before you study for it; that’s their way.

“One other thing, Dave: the desert sand can be sharp on your feet until you’re used to it. If the sand troubles you, let me know; there’s a herb of ours that’s good for toughening skin.”

  


You, Dave and Sand are Learning one morning shortly afterwards. She well remembers your Learning: you had an enormous knowledge of surviving in the desert, but knew very little of the ways of the Dust. Dave now is almost the opposite of you then: he doesn’t have much in the way of survival skills, but seems to know an enormous amount of Dust lore. His knowledge is intuitive; he’s only met the Dust in the last month or so. Sand is delighted by this, and also puzzled; she mentions the possibility of Dave having a Marking. But this is a matter for another time.

But you are a good combination together; Dave wouldn’t be in the Desert without your survival skills; you, in turn, have a companion who is fast learning the ways of the Dust. As Sand says to Dave, “I know the Desert is new to you; but I sense within you a knowledge of our traditions. You should stay a few days; I want to spend time with Jeff in any case. If you do indeed have the Desert within you, it will flower well in this place, the Site of the Dancing Gods.”

Dave questions you later, wonders whether you get fed up with her going over material that must seem very basic to you. You reply, simply and truthfully, that you find it very valuable; it’s the so-called simple, basic things that are the really important ones. And it’s good to be reminded of them yourself.

  


For as long as you’ve Learned with the Dust, you’ve longed for your own Emblazoning; this is the ceremony at which members of the Dust are marked as such; they are tattooed with the Sacred Symbols, and with more individual patterns that reflect their skills and potential. Being Emblazoned is possible only now that you’re away from Ophir: if you had appeared in the barracks, or the ASC, adorned in this manner, you would probably have been thrown into the Mutant Pen… if you were lucky.

But you are at last free to go through the ceremony; and the Sacred Site is the place to hold it.

The Emblazoning ceremony itself takes place in one of the smaller caves. Dave is very keen to be with you at the ceremony. This is a delight, and also a surprise, as the Emblazoning will take some hours, and Dave is not exactly known for his patience with long-running enterprises.

You’ve explained to Dave that there’s a tradition you can follow if you wish: that a friend or teacher of the person being Emblazoned make the first mark, with the Emblazoner taking over from that point. And you’ve also explained that the ink that’s used is hallucinogenic, so you expect to be “out of it” once the Emblazoner gets working, and for a while afterwards.

Although this is an important event in the life of a Dust, and there would normally be a celebration afterwards, you’ve been a clandestine Dust for so long that this seems unnecessary.

So there’s just the three of you: the Emblazoner, and you and Dave. There’s a “nest” made of something like soft ferns in the middle of the cave for you to lie on. The “needles” the Emblazoner is using are thorns from one of the local plants, several centimetres long, hollow, and with a very sharp point. She dips a needle into the pigment and hands it to Dave. The tattoo is quite a complicated one; a small area marks you as a one of the Dust; much more extensive tattoos indicate the skills the recipient brings to the community. So, for you, these tattoos will denote your fighting and clandestine skills, and, much more importantly, your medical knowledge.

The Emblazoner begins by showing Dave the spot for the initial mark, just over your heart. The “drawing” will centre round this. Dave holds the point against your skin, just feeling for the right position; then he marks you quite firmly.

Dave returns the spike to the Emblazoner, who smiles, and inclines her head. Dave takes a seat cross-legged on your right-hand side, away from the Emblazoner; and takes your hand.

“You happy for me to be here, Rookie?” “Yeah… very happy.”

And Dave smiles and nods at the Emblazoner, who starts work in earnest. Although the needles are very sharp, they’re actually fairly broad, and the process is quite painful. Part of your training was to increase your pain threshold, of course, and you can handle the pain; but comfortable it is not.

You try to turn your head towards Dave, but he just says, “Lie still, Rookie. You’re going to stretch the skin under the tattoo if you move. You don’t need to talk.”

You know, of course, that this is the right advice; it’s surprising that Dave has found it. 

It’s not long before you feel yourself starting to “drift”. The hallucinogenic effect of the dye builds in your system as more of it enters your body. You’re aware of Dave quietly holding your hand, but it seems as though, very slowly, the skin on your hand is thinning and evaporating, quite painlessly, so that Dave is touching your deeper flesh.

This might have seemed horrific or disturbing were you sober, but you feel quite comfortable with it.

A little while later, you notice that you can’t feel the skin on Dave’s hand any more; it seems to have disappeared as well, and his flesh and yours are growing together. In the silence you’ve been aware of your heart beating, and of your breathing; now you’re hearing Dave’s heart, and Dave’s breathing, as the two of you link more deeply through this “bridge” between your hands. And the area of contact between you and Dave seems to be expanding; you seem to be merging and losing your distinct identities. And all of this feels normal, and comfortable, and right…

  


Again you’re aware of Dave’s hand holding yours, but something seems to have changed. The pain of your tattooed skin seems to be receding, and you realise that the work must be complete. You open your eyes to find Dave by himself; the two of you are alone in the cave.

“Hey, Rookie!” he says, and kisses your hand. “It’s fine; tattoo’s done; just the two of us here now. How are you feeling?”

Bit hard to say; things still seem rather fluid. But you are now aware of yourself and Dave as being distinct beings; and his hand feels just as it normally would in yours.

“Not quite sure,” you say. “That was… very strange. I felt as if I was melting into you, but it didn’t seem strange or unnatural…

Then you smile. “But I’m glad to see you look like you normally do.”

“When the Emblazoner left, she said you might be a bit out of it when you woke up. Actually, Rookie, you seem pretty good to me.

“She left me with a couple items; said you’d know what to do with them.”

And he holds up a green fruit, a ball about the size of his capacious fist.

“Ah, good idea on her part. The Dust use the juice of this fruit for cleaning wounds: it’s antiseptic, stops bleeding, and helps the healing process. Oh, and it’s a mild local anaesthetic as well. Pretty much the ideal thing if you’ve hurt yourself.”

“Sounds good, Rookie. So what do we do with it?”

“Cut it in half and squeeze the juice over the tattooed area. Wipe it gently and carefully with the leaves she left.

“Sounds good, Rookie. Know you can do this yourself, but probably be easier if I do it. That okay with you?”

“Yeah, fine, Dave.”

So Dave uses the fruit as you’ve told him; he wipes the tattoo very gently. The skin is pretty sore still, and, as Dave says, “Quite a lot of blood here, Rookie. You okay?”

“Yeah, think so. Certainly be fine once I’ve had a night’s sleep. Hey, Dave… thanks.” 

“You wanna sit up, Rookie? Or do you want to lie there a bit longer?” And actually Dave is right: sitting up seems the right thing to do. Dave helps you to sit, but his help isn’t really needed; and then you stand under your own steam. Standing up actually helps you clear your head.

Dave stands up and turns to face you. “Tattoo looks good on you, Rookie. Very good. There’s quite a bit of blood, but that will come away soon. Try moving your body and see how it feels.”

And you do as Dave suggests; the skin’s a little sore, but nothing that you can’t cope with easily. And you’re glad: you’re marked as one of the Dust. At last.

  


It is time to face the journey back. The rover of course isn’t moving. You mention to Dave the possibility of heading to the main shadow path and seeing whether you can hitch a lift; this isn’t at all your own choice, but you put it to Dave to see what he thinks. It would save you a little time, but Dave doesn’t seem keen.

“Enjoyed the trip through the canyon far too much when we came here; more than happy to go back that way again.”

It seems that Sand is right; there is the Desert within Dave after all. You’re amazed, and actually very pleased; it will be a far more relaxing journey for you both.

“Guess I need to take my shield and mace back with me.”

“Only if you feel you really have to, Dave. We don’t need heavy weaponry: I have a small bow stored here, you could leave your weapons and Army clothing in the rover, and they’ll get back to you when that’s returned.” Dave seems pleased with the idea; “Good thinking, Rookie.”

Apart from a covering of sand, the rover seems in very much the same state as when you crashed.

The remains of the ostrich have gone; either the Dust took them, or perhaps more likely, some of the local scavengers. You check that your gun is still safely stowed; it’s a good weapon you certainly want to keep for the minute. 

  


The journey back is uneventful, but interesting.

On the journey out, if you stopped to consult a Signpost, Dave would be interested, but just leave you to it. Now, he asks questions about the meaning of all the Signpost’s glyphs, and how they relate to the Signposts he’s seen earlier.

You deliberately choose a different route back, so that Dave can see the range of Dust sites, and so you can start to teach him how the Signposts work.

Dave becomes fascinated by this, and (unexpectedly) he has a keen eye; he also has a good sense of direction.

On the last morning, you take a back seat when planning the journey, and let Dave be the one to decide the route. (You both know that he can always fall back on you if he needs; but it’s not necessary.)

You take the Route into the back of Noctis, rather than the way by the main gate; that was dangerous with its moles, as you’d expected.

It’s not possible to climb up beside the lift on which the sand-sail sits, but there’s a Route which zigzags up the broken part of the rock to its right. It’s very well-constructed and surprisingly easy; you’re on the loading area beneath the Palace in very little time, or so it seems.

You walk towards Phobos, who looks up from what he’s doing, sees the two of you in desert garb, and grins broadly. “It is good to see the two of you as you should be. I know we’ve spoken only a little, Dave, but I gained a strong sense of the Desert within you; you just weren’t aware of it. How did you find your journey?”

Dave begins a typical mission debrief, and then he stops, because he realises that Phobos has asked for something much more important than that.

“Journey was… eye-opening, Phobos. Went out there as an Abundance soldier and came back as something else. Not quite sure what I am at the minute, but it feels like something’s changed. And oddly… I feel like I’m at home, somehow.”

“I have a suggestion for the two of you: go to Mutant Valley. There’s a small Dust community there; both your journey there, and your time with the community, will help you both increase your knowledge of the Desert. I shall be going there shortly myself… and, if the rumours I’m hearing are true, I suspect that Zach and his party will be joining you there soon, too.”

The rest of your trip to Noctis is simple administration. You report back to the Mutants with the ostriches that they have permission to recover Amelia’s rover. Then, following Phobos’ good advice, you head for Mutant Valley. A week’s travel through the Desert is something that Dave now relishes.

  



	12. The Lost Boy

You arrived in Mutant Valley with Dave about a fortnight ago. The journey on foot from Noctis was something you both relished, and learned a lot from; it was Dave’s longest trip into the Desert so far, and he’s already talking about a longer expedition.

You’re in a small quiet enclave well away from Mutant Valley’s main gate; passing Dust have taken to stopping here, and it’s acquired the name “Dust Corner”. Your tattoo, now fully healed, is an “advertisement” of your skills; and, seeing you are a Healer (trained the “medical” way by the ASC, and by the Dust in their traditions), your advice is sought most days by folk in Mutant Valley, not all of them Dust.

  


Zach and his team are now based in Mutant Valley themselves, and starting to strike back against the Colonel. One of the judges supporting him is only doing so because his son is being held hostage in the ASC headquarters. You’re the obvious person to help with this, as you’ve been inside the place and know the layout; and also, sadly, because you’ve been a victim of the ASC’s mind-bending, and so might be able to talk the boy round.

Rescuing him requires some very careful planning; even getting to the ASC headquarters is a huge challenge. The Exchange and Underworks are now heavily defended: Zach decides, in your view rightly, on a large force to fight their way to the entrance, and then a very small stealth group to go inside.

Under a large-scale attack, the ASC might do just about anything. It’s unlikely they’d kill Anthony Judge, but they’d almost certainly move him somewhere “safer”, and therefore less accessible. Moreover, a major assault would almost certainly alarm Anthony. If the object of the exercise is to convince the boy to go with you, that isn’t the way to do it.

And, to your surprise, Zach suggests that this small team consist of just him and you; and that you lead this part of the mission. But it’s a good plan; with your knowledge of the area, and stealth skills, it just might work. As a Hunter, you’re used to moving almost noiselessly; Zach’s been practising with you to improve his own technique. And you can turn on that fake rookie charm. You think you’re in with a chance. “But I’m going in unarmed. The boy is hardly going to cooperate if two armed men burst into his room. Yeah, I know Zach’s a Mancer, and an enormously powerful one; but the boy won’t realise that.”

Scott had suggested your having a tranquilising drug to use if the boy wouldn’t cooperate; but you vetoed this on the spot. “Look, if we do that, we’re behaving no better than the ASC does. Dave, Zach and I all know the way it feels to be on the wrong end of that. What will the boy think of the father who had him drugged? It’s not just morally wrong; it simply won’t work.”

You’re in hiding in the Underworks, ready to start the assault on the headquarters. Dave would have known most of the troops patrolling here in the past, but he thinks they’ve all been replaced. “ASC agents or mercenaries, I’d say. Probably more of the latter… don’t risk your own agents, just buy in the muscle. And now that Viktor’s seized control of the Abundance chest, he can afford pretty much anything.”

A good while later, you’re standing at the airlock that leads to the ASC headquarters. It’s been a very tough fight; Zach’s deployed his full team, as well as you and Dave. Fortunately, no-one’s got any more than trivial injuries, which Scott is attending to. You and Zach stayed back from the main combat, directing rifle fire or electric arcs at your opponents, as it was important that neither of you was hurt.

You leave your gun with the main team, and you both leave your boots, which amuses a few of them. But as you say, “Look, if we go clumping around in boots, we’ll be detected immediately. Barefoot I can move almost silently. Remember I’m a Hunter? I know my stuff.” The main team head off to the fire escape outside the headquarters; the boy’s father’s waiting there, too, and all being well, you’ll rendezvous with them there. If not… well that’s not worth thinking about.

Once through the airlock, the two of you carefully descend a ladder. You tell Zach to wait; “Let me have a good look round; should be back in about ten minutes or so.”

Moving stealthily, and not detected, you work around the gangway above the central control section. Just a few guards here; nothing particular to worry about.

You silently descend one of the staircases and make for where you think the lad is confined. Fortunately, he’s in a room with a large plate-glass window; he has his back to the corridor you’re in, so isn’t aware of your presence.

You head back to Zach. “Found the kid. Headquarters is strangely empty these days; guess it’s a combination of agents moving out into the Exchange and the Slums, and perhaps the ASC thinking it’s less vulnerable. We’re gonna show them!” There’s a smoke detector in the ceiling close to the foot of the ladder; lighting a smoky Noctis candle is all that’s needed to set the fire alarms off.

And the ASC folk here really have become lax; they just treat the fire alarm as a reason to evacuate, rather than a potential threat. Most of the non-essential staff pile out of the fire doors immediately. You then hear a few brief noises; cries, and some satisfying thuds. Good; it means the main team’s dealt with the evacuees. Which encourages more of the ASC to go through the fire doors to investigate… and receive the same treatment.

Then, on your order, Zach aims a massive arc at the main incoming electrical connection; there’s an impressive array of sparks, and the place goes dark. The emergency lights (which, fortunately for your purposes, are rather good) come on immediately, but the staff are quite startled. A mixed blessing: they’ll be distracted, but of course they will also be on their guard. Or should be: it’s clear that the staff in the headquarters are not now the best. You and Zach have no difficulty getting to the boy, subduing the few agents you encounter. You use your hand-to-hand skills; Zach’s now adept at knocking people out with a small Mancer charge, fired at close range. 

You’re finally in the room where the boy is being held. Although there’s just the two of you, and you’re apparently unarmed, he’s alarmed by two bootless military guys invading his space. “What are you... how did you get in here? You’re not a member of the ASC.”

“Well actually, Anthony, I was until recently. And relax: we’re not going to hurt you. It’s even possible you might recognise me; I am, or rather was, a member of the Colonel’s Hand.” You look past the boy to a notice-board on the wall; there’s a painting of all the members of the Hand, including yourself; obviously the ASC have been too busy with other things to purge you from the picture yet. “If you don’t believe me, look at the painting on the board behind you.”

The boy turns, and, surprised, gets closer to the painting. There’s no doubt: it is you, looking rather lean and mean in the tiny band.

“Let me explain why we’re here; got a true story to tell you, and it’s my story.

“You remember your dad, don’t you? Yeah, I know you think he’s abandoned you. Well I don’t remember my dad. Don’t remember my mother either. Don’t have any memories except being with the ASC, the people you’re with now.

“The ASC took me from my family, just as they took you from yours. I got to be in the Colonel’s Hand because they trained me up from a tiny child. And I believed in them, just like you do now.

“I would do anything for them. And, to be honest, I did some terrible things. And I did them because they told me to, and because I believed in them. I thought they were my friends and my family; my protectors, and… you know… good people.

You pause.

“And now? I’m very ashamed of what I did. Because what I did was wrong. But I did it because they lied to me.

“Now I’m sure you’ve never done any of the stuff I did. But, just like me, you believe in them, because they’ve lied to you.

“And they’ve hurt, and lied to, a lot of people. And you see the guy who’s with me? He stood up to them; but they took away the man he thought of as his father.

“Now, this is important: unlike the people you’re with at the minute, we’re not going to tell you what to do.

“Your father’s only just found out where you are, and he wants you to come home. But we’re not going to make you come with us: we’re going to ask you what you want to do.

“If you want to stay with the people you’re with, then we’ll leave you with them. But if you want to go to your father, who misses you, we can take you to him.

“The choice is yours. See, we’re offering you a choice. The people here don’t do that: they just want you to do what they say. So… what do you wanna do? We can let you think for a bit if you want to.”

There’s a pause, but only a brief one; then Anthony says, “Well, if that’s true, where is my father?”

“He’s just outside; have to go through a couple doors and then out the fire escape. You wanna come with us?” And Anthony does.

  


Mission accomplished. You’re glad to be out of the ASC headquarters; the air seems clearer and fresher outside, although you realise that this must be your imagination. It’s been a tricky mission, and has left you tense; but that often happens. But something feels a bit different.

“You okay, Rookie?” says Dave, and you finally realise that he’s been watching you for a while. With concern.

You’re just about to reply when you’re suddenly hit by a wall of feelings and memory: your encounter with Anthony Judge has triggered off a whole slew of memories of your being a child raised by the ASC, taught from the very first to obey, wound, kill, fuck… whatever the organisation wanted.

Anthony Judge seemed (at least on the surface) simply to have been conditioned to think the ASC were his saviours and protectors against his evil father. And you, the thought striking you for the first time, realise that you were conditioned much more thoroughly and deeply.

You start to say something like, “Not really okay, no,” in reply to Dave’s question, when you realise you can’t see properly. It takes you a while to realise that your vision is impaired by your own tears.

Dave, sensing your distress and careful not to exacerbate it, moves towards you carefully until he’s about arm’s length away. “Something I can do, Rookie? Is it okay if I touch you?”

You manage to nod. Dave, slowly and quietly, closes the distance between you and, moving cautiously, puts his arms round you and holds you, very gently. There’s a strange noise which you realise must be your own howling sobs.

You’re not aware of much for a good while after that.

  


You seem to be waking up in a noisy environment; the room, or whatever you’re in, is rocking and pitching. You’re so out of it you almost can’t be bothered to work out what’s going on; you realise that this isn’t like you at all, as you always watch so carefully, calculate so precisely what you should do.

You move your head slightly, and are glad to hear Dave’s voice. He’s speaking very gently and simply.

“It’s okay, Rookie… you’re safe. We’re in the rover. Back in Mutant Valley soon.”

You realise you’re not lying flat; your head is raised on something that feels warm. Opening your eyes, you’re glad to see Dave’s face a little way above yours. You’re lying across some of the seats in the rover, with your head in Dave’s lap. One of his hands is resting on your shoulder.

You begin, “What…” and Dave repeats, “I’m here, Rookie. It’s okay. See if you can relax.

“You were pretty much in pieces, Rookie. Scott gave you something to calm you.

Dave lifts his hand and runs his fingers through your hair. “We’re safe here… wanna see if you can rest a bit more?”

Rather weakly, you say, “Yeah, okay, Dave.” You’re not thinking very clearly, but you realise then that Dave is one person in the world who you really completely trust. If Dave says it’s safe, then it is. You shut your eyes and darkness takes you at once.

  


  


  



	13. Dust Corner

When you next stir, you’re back in Dust Corner, Dave lying beside you. Unusually, Dave’s already awake. He kisses you gently, and says, “Morning, Rookie.” It seems like a normal, happy start to the day: and then, as you wake a little more, you become aware of all the pain and confusion unleashed by the last mission. Dave is looking at you, concerned. “Hey… Rookie… I’m here…,” and Dave’s simple presence is enough to calm you a little. “Scott left me some more of that stuff he gave you yesterday to calm you; let me get that for you.”

You think for an instant, and then say, quite definitely, “Thanks, Dave, but no. I’m not saying this is easy for me… on the contrary, it’s like something out of a nightmare. But… the ASC gave me a skill that I can use against all this damage they did. Remember my ‘undercover’ persona, where I can carefully calculate and assess things, and stay cool however tough the mission? You know, the part of me that can pull off those ‘lucky’ gunshots in a tense battle? Realise I can use that, at least to keep my thoughts on course. Nice piece of vengeance, to use something they instilled in me against them.”

“And that’s the reason I don’t want Scott’s medication (or even something similar from my stock of Dust herbs): I want to keep my mind clear, so this ‘undercover’ part of me can work properly. Calming drugs will just take the edge off that.

“And, most important, you’re here, which is a real comfort… did you get any sleep last night?”

Dave shakes his head, and, for once, looks slightly like a lost child. “No, Rookie… frankly just too worried, and actually a bit scared, at what you were going through.”

“Then I have a suggestion; we’ll have to play this by ear, but, as you didn’t get your usual last night… wondered if you fancied a barracks special?”

Dave is astonished by this. “Rookie… last thing I want is for you to do something you don’t want; that’s what those ASC fuckers did to you, for years and years.”

“But you never do that, do you, Dave? You’re always making sure that I’m happy with what we’re doing. To be frank, I’ve always found that a huge turn-on. And this isn’t just about sex. I think just some simple… joy, for both of us, is important just now. For one thing, it will give me a brief break from my ‘undercover’ persona and just let me experience a brief period of happiness. And it will comfort you; and we both need your strength. I can see you find it tough being alongside someone who’s going through the stuff I am at the minute.” You can see Dave thinking this through; and, as he reaches the conclusion you hoped, you kiss him, gently.

  


Losing Simon Judge’s support has dented Viktor’s ability to govern quite significantly; just about everything he proposes is being challenged in the Abundance courts, and the decisions are now starting to go against him. The trip to rescue his son was a job well done. Which is a relief; at least what you went through had a good outcome.

And, very helpfully, Dave has a good plan. He’s heard legends of an area quite close to Mutant Valley which hasn’t been explored in living memory, and suggests the two of you have a look at it. Careful not to overtire you, he leads one-day, occasionally overnight trips to start to examine the area. The idea’s not to do a lot of exploration so much as prepare the ground for when the exploration finally takes place in earnest. And to get you out of the head-space that the ASC put you in, and that the Judge mission reminded you of; and into the mindset of your own people, the Dust.

  


Zach has a new mission in mind: a trip to an Ice Dome near the pole, which he believes harbours a Beacon which would enable him to communicate with Earth. But to be able to do that, he needs to have extensive modifications made to the rover, and to get hold of light-weight, protective, arctic clothing. It’s a while since he saw it, but Zach was very impressed with the anti-Mancer suit the Colonel had given you; it’s useless for this purpose, of course, but it was clear that the ASC had a team which could make excellent protective clothing. So another visit to ASC headquarters is called for; Viktor would certainly need special clothing if he were to get to the Ice Dome.

Zach immediately had a word with you and said he thought you should sit out this second trip to ASC headquarters; and you were very happy to do so. “Thanks to you, I’ve got a very good idea of the layout of the ASC headquarters. And this operation is much easier, as we don’t have to worry about alarming someone we’re trying to rescue. I intend to get in simply by blasting the fire doors we left by on the earlier mission. Unlike using the ladder, it should be easy to get a big party in there at once; that way, we should be able deal with any opposition easily.

“And Jeff… I’m saying this with respect, and appreciating everything you’ve done for us. But I don’t want you having to go back to one of the places where the ASC mistreated you as a child. You deserve something better. And I want Dave staying here too, alongside you. There are some very capable and strong Mutant fighters here in Mutant Valley who could take his place very well.” He winks at Dave, and then adds, “They don’t bitch half as much as Dave does, either. You agreeable with that, Dave?”

“Absolutely, Zach. My place is with Jeff: and I particularly need to be beside him just now.”

  


It’s interesting that Dave’s keen on exploring the nearby area mentioned in Dust legend; he seems to intuit things in the way one of the Wise would. You’ve had a notion for a while of what might be happening, and as time goes by, you’re starting to feel increasingly confident that you’re right. The first person to discuss it with is, of course, Dave.

“You know so many Dust skills without being taught, Dave, and I’ve been thinking about why that might be. I should warn you: this is going to sound pretty far-fetched. Let’s take it by steps. Remember when you made the Gesture of Respect when you were given your first loincloth?”

“Yeah, remember clearly, Rookie. I suddenly felt so proud and glad to have been given the loincloth. Making the Gesture just seemed the obvious thing to do at the time. Of course I had no idea that it was called the Gesture of Respect at the time, or what it meant.”

“That’s exactly the point. ‘The obvious thing to do’ just happened to be long-established Dust tradition. Here’s my idea: I think you may have, or at least be developing, a Marking.”

“Isn’t that something like a tattoo… have I got that right?”

“Not really. My tattoo shows the skills the Dust believe me to have, and the ones they believe I’ll develop. But I’d have those skills whether or not I had the tattoo. And the tattoo was made, of course, by an Emblazoner injecting ink under my skin.”

“A Marking is very different, and isn’t made by human agency. When one of the Wise dies, their unique skills are released, and attach themselves to others; and given that you find Dust skills ‘the obvious thing to do’, I wonder whether that’s happened to you. Initially, a Marking just reveals itself as unexpected knowledge and wisdom. As time goes by, it becomes visible on the skin. Have you got that?

“Whoa, rookie. So you’re saying some skills from a deceased member of the Wise have attached themselves to me?”

“I think they might well have done, Dave. And I think Sand mentioned something along the same lines when we were in the Site of the Dancing Gods. Obviously we can’t be sure unless, or until, you develop a visible Marking.”

“Shit, this is weird. But I’ve now seen enough Dust stuff to know that, just because something’s weird, doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. However it’s happened, have to say I’m real grateful to have this knowledge; opened my eyes to a lot of things I’d otherwise have missed. Let’s see how it pans out.”


	14. The Ice Dome

The main team have headed off to try to find the Beacon, leaving you and Dave watching over the main part of the Ice Dome. They’d suggested you tag along, but you’re both content to stay put and rest a bit. You’re realising that your strength has still not fully recovered from Zach’s overload at the Noctis gate.

The entire ASC contingent is either dead, or stunned and disarmed; there’s been silence for the last half hour. Zach’s entire team carefully searched every area and found nothing. But, strangely, no sign of Colonel Viktor.

Knowing the Colonel well, you’re worried: Viktor isn’t going to leave the discovery of the Beacon to anyone else, even his own trusted agents. But Zach (in particular) thought that Viktor was a side-issue; the priority was activating the Beacon: “If we get to the Beacon before Viktor does, that’s just going to weaken him further; he’s not going to be able to use it to campaign for his own reinstatement.” You didn’t feel overly convinced by this.

You and Dave are sitting chatting on the floor of one of the smaller domes, a few levels down from the path Zach took to the Beacon. You’ve left your weapons by the door; part of your journey from soldiers to Dust is that you now feel happier not carrying weapons unless absolutely necessary. Dave, wanting to stretch, gets up and moves to the centre of the room.

At this point, there’s an entirely unexpected round of gunfire, and Dave collapses to the floor, blood pooling under him from the wound in his upper left leg. You’re on your feet in a fraction of a second, but if you try to move, towards Dave or anywhere else, another bullet bounces off the floor near your feet. A warning to you to stay still. All you can do is call out to Dave, telling him to stay put and try to control the bleeding. He’s conscious but not really able to move; each time he tries, the wound begins to bleed heavily again. 

Viktor appears on the level above yours, gun in hand. “This is an interesting time, isn’t it, Jeffrey? I think I’ll call you Jeffrey; since you betrayed the ASC, you hardly have a number now. I remember when you were young and loyal, how you loved being given a new number. You were one of our most obedient recruits. We could ask you to do anything, anything at all, and you’d do it. Do you remember how clear your mind was? There was no doubt; you loved us with every fibre of your being. Wouldn’t you like to go back to that? 

“You’re very lucky: I’m prepared to forgive your recent treachery. You see, we’ve missed having someone with your skills. Come back to us and be a number once more; you’ll regain that peace and certainty which comes from complete obedience. What do you think?”

You’re struggling desperately to control your thoughts. For one thing, what Viktor says is true: at one time, you would do anything at all for the ASC. And at that time, you were completely happy to do whatever they said, because they’d trained you to follow their orders without question. So the blandishments that Viktor offers appeal very much indeed to that part of you that served the ASC body and soul.

But another part of you realises that you’re not that ASC puppet any more. Although you can’t see them under your arctic clothing, your body is marked indelibly by the tattoos of the Dust. You have a loyalty to the Desert and its people; you don’t owe the ASC anything.

And you have a loyalty to Dave. And that is absolute, in the way your obedience to the ASC was absolute a long time ago.

And then something very strange happens: Dave sends you a message. It’s not communicated by words; it’s an intuitive sense. And it has multiple strands: one, that Dave is in pain and is worried because he’s bleeding heavily; but two, that, even at the cost of his own life, it’s more important to take down Viktor than to look after him; and three, that he trusts you to do the best you can. You realise, for the first time in your life, that you have received a message via the Bond.

And with that, the siren call to obedience that Viktor activated in your head suddenly vanishes.

And now you have a plan. Viktor and the ASC taught you to lie so very well that you were completely convincing. But you can lie convincingly to them, too; and the irony is delicious: using the weapons they gave you against them.

But the matter of a weapon is key. Your gun, Dave’s mace and shield are out of immediate reach, and if you move to claim them, Viktor will gun you down before you reach them.

Viktor is still talking as though you don’t exist. You remember this is the way he always talks: to Viktor, no-one else exists; other human beings are simply there to carry out his will without question. Yes, Viktor may negotiate in the Abundance Council; but when it comes to the ASC, his word cannot be countermanded or even questioned. The ASC is a one-man band, and Viktor is the man.

“David Ward was a disappointment to me. I can make people do what I want quite easily; it’s just a matter of finding the right pressure point. Of course, threatening people doesn’t make them loyal; and David Ward was never loyal. Unlike you, of course.

“According to all the paperwork, David Ward was just a grunt soldier who wasn’t going anywhere. It should have been easy for me to bend him to my will. Little bastard showed himself more slippery than I would have believed possible, sliding out of my clutches after having told his Mancer Lieutenant everything he knew.

“As night follows day, punishment follows disobedience. The death of Ward’s parents could easily have followed his treachery; but I had a better idea. As he and you are fucking, and thus rather, shall we say, involved, I can get to kill… an appropriate word, don’t you think… two birds with one stone.

“Ward deserves death for his disobedience; and you need a way to convince me to take you back. There’s a rather elegant solution here: you simply have to kill Ward.

“But not just kill Ward; he needs punishment. You remember doing punishment killings, don’t you? In fact, if the records are correct, you performed a punishment killing on a previous lover of yours. We required it of you for admission to the Colonel’s Hand. And you did it without so much as turning a hair. You really have become very squeamish of late, haven’t you?

“So let’s check that you have that determination and purpose and obedience back; let’s find out whether you can still follow my orders. The task is simple: kill Ward with this.”

And Viktor throws a serum syringe in your direction; it lands on Dave’s body.

You pick the syringe up and examine it carefully. It’s a standard ASC punishment syringe: with the proper technique, its victim will undergo a protracted and excruciating death. Twenty minutes of agony is typical: a healthy specimen like Dave would endure significantly longer.

And now, “weapon” in hand, you realise what you can do to turn the tables. “Yes, Colonel.” In the past, those were the only words you ever conceived of uttering as a response.

You ready the syringe at the correct place on Dave’s neck.

Vanity has always been Viktor’s undoing: you never consciously thought this before, but now you look back, it’s very clear. You carefully position yourself so that your body blocks Viktor’s view of the syringe.

As you’d hoped, Viktor jumps down to the level you’re on and steps a little closer to you, to watch what’s happening; and (the key thing) takes his attention off his powerful rifle and turns it towards the impending execution. He is playing into your hands. Ideal.

In the guise of a final adjustment to the syringe’s position, you lift it slightly from Dave’s neck. Then you throw it hard, straight at Viktor’s face. It doesn’t hurt him in any significant way; but he’s caught off guard. In that fraction of a second, you launch yourself at the man. The gun is easy to wrest from his hands; you hurl it into a far corner of the room. And in another fraction of a second, you’re behind Viktor with your arm encircling his neck.

You could at this point simply turn his head and break his neck. But you have a better idea, although you feel ashamed of what you intend to do.

You hurl Viktor down onto the floor, face first, and put your knee, and your full weight, in the centre of his back. Game over as far as his resistance is concerned; he’s not physically strong, and it’s easy to throttle him, or beat him around the head until he’s semi-conscious, if he fights back too strongly. You’re aware that the Colonel has long not been in the best of health (though you’ve never known the details).

And now you have your plan for vengeance ready. Viktor has two thumbs and eight fingers; you intend to break each of these, one by one. And, before each new break, you will joggle the already-broken digits painfully. The ASC taught you this trick: the damage is trivial, certainly not life-threatening; but the agony is quite impressive. And then you will pick up the syringe, which fortunately landed quite close to Viktor’s prone body. 

You will put the syringe in place, activate it, and observe with some gratification Viktor’s slow, humiliating and excruciating death. It will be an appalling end: but the fucker deserves it. He’s committed atrocities as bad as this, or worse, to thousands of people. It won’t be justice, because Viktor deserves more suffering than this; but it will be a step in the right direction.

And then, quite suddenly, a feeling overwhelms you; you realise that Dave has sent a message via the Bond. It’s not in words, so it’s not precise: but the message is to abandon your plan for vengeance, despite Viktor deserving it; that actually Viktor’s defeat is punishment enough. And you realise that not merely did Dave send the message via the Bond; he knew what you were thinking, because the Bond conveyed that, too.

Suddenly, Viktor seems to be fighting desperately to rise from the floor; he doesn’t stand a chance, because you have him well pinned down. But then his fighting seems to turn into something more like convulsions; you need to use both hands on his shoulders, and put the full force of both knees on his back, to keep him in place.

But over a minute or so, the noise and movement subside. Then you realise the man is dead; you check the pulse in his neck and there’s nothing. From the look on his face he died in great pain, which gives you a lot of satisfaction. Probably a heart attack, but… well, who cares?

Just to be sure, you break his neck.

You climb off Viktor’s back and hurry over to Dave. He’s grey, and there’s a lot of blood around his leg, but the bleeding seems not to be too heavy; with luck, he’ll live. And all of a sudden a terrible remorse hits you: you should have tended to Dave; instead of fantasising working your sadism out on Viktor.

“Dave?”

“Hey, Rookie. Good job.”

“Dave, I was never going to…”

“Rookie, I know. You weren’t going to use that syringe on me. I trust you. And look, Rookie… if I’d needed to die to have Viktor dead, it’s a trade I’d have happily made.”

You realise you’re weeping, but pull yourself together quickly: you have to help Dave.

“Gonna need to take a look at your leg. I think some of your clothing is sticking to the wound, so this may hurt… sorry.”

As carefully as you can, you start to tear Dave’s trouser leg apart; there’s a long wound raking from a little below his knee up into his groin. Trying to move the material not only hurts Dave; it also seems to set the bleeding off again. Dave’s skin is pale and cool; you touch a pulse point and notice that his heart is racing. It looks like he’s bleeding out. You need help…

At this point, and very much to your relief, the main team reappears, running down the levels, past the one Viktor was standing on earlier, and onto yours.

“Heard gunfire from your direction… wondered if someone needed help… What’s going on?”

“I think Dave’s bleeding out. The source of the gunfire was Viktor; he’s dead.”

It has to be said that Scott, for all his failings, is good in a crisis. You feel a touch on your shoulder and move out of the way. Scott quickly checks Dave’s pulse and looks worried: Dave seems confused or non-comprehending. “What we need is blood, or at least saline. Is there any here?”

“None in my rover, but… didn’t Vik the Dik have a heart problem or something? Perhaps there’ll be something in his rover. Shall I go look, Scott?”

“Yes, please, Amelia; have a quick look, and, if it looks promising, I’ll come over and cast an expert eye.”

Andrew moves forward. “If the problem’s bleeding, I can do something about that. Old Mancer trick I learned from my renegade Master; not widely taught, but useful in a spot like this. I can create a tiny charge which will coagulate blood. It’s temporary, and it will cause a little burning, but it will buy us some time until the wound can be closed properly.

“Need you to hold the edges of the wound together, Jeff. The charge is going to sting a little, but bearably. Dave, you hear that?”

You can sense that Dave heard, so you say so. Andrew takes a moment to prepare himself, then puts together the thumb and finger of his right hand together, and pulls them slightly apart to reveal a tiny sparking arc.

Andrew brings the arc closer to Dave’s wound, which you’re doing your best to hold closed. Andrew promised it would sting you, and it does; but it’s manageable. And, to your immense relief, the blood begins to coagulate.

Five minutes later it’s done. You’re rather shaky after the discharge; Andrew’s looking drained.

“You okay, Andrew?” asks Zach. “Yeah, fine; just need a bit of a rest.”

Scott is impressed. “Neat job that; wish it were something I could do myself.”

“It’s something that needs very careful fluid balancing. Had lots of practice at that myself! Found it useful for first aid in the desert. I’ll try and teach you, Zach, when we’ve got some time.”

Amelia rushes in with some good news, at last. “Vik’s rover has a med bay! Not sure if it has everything you need, Scott; come with me and I’ll show you.” And the two of them head off.

  


Some hours later, you’re sitting in the Colonel’s rover, Dave still lying on the operating table.

The procedure was rather eccentric, and took a while, but it went surprisingly smoothly. Scott performed the most important part of the surgery; you provided sedation and then closed the wound; Andrew was there if needed to halt the bleeding.

Before the procedure, Scott gave Dave some saline, which improved his circulation, though not his colour.

Viktor’s med bay was equipped to deal with heart problems rather than general surgery; but within those constraints, was state of the art. It lacked any supplies of general anaesthetic, though. Dave volunteered to have the procedure done without any pain relief, but you quickly dissuaded him; even though he might have been able to stand the pain, he’d almost certainly squirm, and the work was quite delicate.

You’d brought various Dust remedies with you; using a combination of a sedative and a hallucinogen, you placed Dave in something like an anaesthetic coma. The med bay had just one unit of Dave’s blood, but you decided to save that for an emergency. The really important work of repairing the artery was done by Scott; but his hands were beginning to shake towards the end of the procedure, and it was obvious that he needed to return to his drink. So you took over at this point, carefully suturing the various severed muscles and smaller blood vessels. During the procedure, you relied on a combination of your herbs and Andrew’s Technomancy to control the bleeding. 

The work took about four hours in all. Dave’s still very deeply unconscious, but his colour is much better, and you have hopes that he’ll be able to use the limb again.

You’ve finally finished when Scott returns to the sick bay. “Really neat stitching there,” he says, and claps you, not particularly accurately, on the shoulder. “Patient’s colour is much improved, pulse is strong; I think we can call this a success.”

You’re finally giving Dave the unit of blood you’d saved up for an emergency. “Good work, my boy,” says Scott. “I can sit with the patient for a bit if you like. Why don’t you take a quick break?”

Scott has got out his bottle of spirits and is sitting quietly drinking. But you say, “Very kind offer, Scott; thank you. And thank you for all you’ve done for Dave; he would certainly have died without your help. And, yes, I am very tired. But my place is here, with Dave.”


	15. The Marking

It’s morning, and, as usual, you’re awake before Dave. You returned from the Ice Dome about a fortnight ago. You’d been concerned about how Dave’s wound would cope with the long jolting rover trip back, but it did well and even continued healing during the journey. On the way, Zach filled you in on his discoveries with the Beacon, and the decisions he’d made. You’d been glad to hear that he’d decided to settle in Mutant Valley; by far the easiest and safest place for the Dust (whom you’ve regarded as your people for quite a while).

Very early in Dave’s recovery, the two of you talked about your Bond; the fight with Viktor was the first time either of you experienced the way the Bonded share feelings. “Very grateful to you, Dave, particularly now, for getting me to abandon my plan of torturing Viktor to death. That bastard deserved it, but…”

“…but doing that would just have damaged you appallingly, Rookie. The ASC made you a soulless killing machine; but I know that’s not who you are. If you’d treated Viktor to a dose of his own medicine, I think my Rookie would really be suffering now.

“A good life is the best revenge, Rookie. Gonna try and make that good life happen for you.”

Dave is still spending a lot of time resting; he’s well, but weak. He lost a lot of blood at the Ice Dome, both to the gunshot and during surgery. It will take time for Dave’s body to replace the missing blood, but time is something you now both have plenty of. You and Dave have moved temporarily into a cabin in Dust Corner; Dave needed a human bed to sleep on while he recovered. You’re enjoying simply being together, away from combat at last, watching Dave get stronger by the day. You took the stitches out of the wound on the outside of his left thigh about a week ago; the wound was clean, with a thin, flexible, healthy scar.

You’ve begun to massage the wounded area to break up any scar tissue deeper down which might hinder the muscle regrowing. You have to use firm pressure, and Dave finds it quite painful. But massaging Dave’s thighs has always turned him on; so he’s taken to asking for “a sweetie after that nasty medicine.” And you’ve been delighted to oblige. 

Something about Dave’s wound does worry you, despite its rapid healing. The wound seems to be… changing. Rapidly. Initially it was a normal scar matching the gunshot wound. But a softer tissue, similar in texture to a lip, and deep burgundy in colour, is replacing it. It’s now spread beyond the injured area; it’s reached the top of Dave’s pelvis, and an inch or two below his knee; fortunately it’s not spread further. The new tissue forms a pattern a little like the leaves on a vine. The tissue has a strange sensitivity. Dave’s completely comfortable if anyone touches the area, or if he lies on it; but anything else covering it causes serious discomfort. Even a loincloth, carefully tied to minimise contact with the affected area, is uncomfortable.

Of course you consulted Scott at the first opportunity; he was mystified, “Never seen anything like this before in my life.” He took a small sample and studied it; “it’s perfectly healthy, there’s no sign of its being malignant, it’s tied in well with the normal tissues around it and not causing any damage. I do know what it is, but you may need to prepare yourself for this, Dave… it’s a mutation based on your own tissue.”

Dave pauses for a minute, and then says, “I’m taking it as good news, Doc. Virtually all the Dust are Mutants; if I’m one too, then it only brings me closer to my people.”

You discuss the matter with Dave, and you both come to the same conclusion: it’s the visible sign of the Marking.

“Guess we need to talk to one of the Wise,” says Dave. “They will know whether it is a Marking, and, if so, what it means.”

“Is that ‘the obvious thing to do?’, Dave?”

He looks thoughtful for a moment, but then says, “Yeah, Rookie; it does seem the obvious thing to do. It’s odd… this doesn’t feel scary to me… just feels sorta natural. Though quite what I’m going to wear when this Marking is so sensitive, I just don’t know… Presumably nothing? Is that why some of the Wise actually go around naked?”

“That’s certainly my sense: Markings can’t be covered without a lot of discomfort. And it’s said that they only gain their true power if uncovered in any case. Something about them absorbing the energy of the Desert around them and transmuting it. And as a bonus…,” you add with a twinkle in your eye, “I’ve always loved seeing you naked anyway.”

  


“Just look at that swaying dick. Never gonna be able to see another display of military moves without thinking of all those schlongs swinging under the uniforms now…” Amelia’s sitting with you, a few weeks later. Dave is exercising in the large sandy circle of the Mutant Valley training area. He’s passing on his beloved shield and mace to the local militia, and he’s showing them the right moves to use and the features of the equipment. There’s a friendly pause.

“You’re a lucky man, you know that, Jeff?”

“Yeah, I do. Mind you, Dave’s bi… he might fancy a bit of a change. You could always ask him.”

“Fuck off. You two guys are so deep into each other… and that includes orifices. Not my place to interfere. Pity, but there we go.”

“Are you heading back to Abundance soon?”

“Yeah. Both Scott and I are Abundance babies; it’s a shit place, but it’s home. Should be a bit less of a shit place now we’ve got rid of the Diktor.”

“Dave wants to send a letter home. Mind taking it?”

“Glad to. Not exactly a postal service from Mutant Valley, is there? Mind you, it’s clear this place is going to be on the map real soon. They’ll soon start issuing stamps… holy fuck!”

Alarmed by Amelia’s change of voice, you look over at the training area. Dave flies through the air, doubled up, and lands, heavily, in the sand. You kick yourself for taking your eyes off him. It seems he was caught by someone else’s mace, flying through the air and hitting him in the stomach. And that someone shouldn’t have using the training area in the first place.

Your heart sinks: this could be very serious indeed. Only a very heavy blow would send him flying like that. Even wearing the armour of an Abundance soldier, Dave would have been badly hurt. And these days he’s naked… 

But just as you reach Dave, he starts to laugh, gets up easily, and brushes the sand from his body; he’s fine. The Mutant who hurled the mace is apologising profusely; Dave accepts the apology happily, claps the guy on the shoulder.

You insist on examining Dave closely. You can see a slight redness where the mace hit, but there are no internal injuries that you can detect; Dave’s colour and pulse are fine.

“I simply can’t believe that you’re not badly hurt, Dave. Thank the shadow for that!” You exchange glances, and it takes you both a few seconds before you realise: the Marking. Or perhaps Dave’s mutating further. Or maybe both…?

“This is some pretty weird shit, isn’t it, Rookie? But thank fuck I’m okay. Think we’re both going to be finding out a lot more about this as time goes by.”

  


Andrew calls round a little later; Dave’s lying on the bed, sleeping off his exertions on the training area. You’ve not really had the time to talk to Andrew; you sit outside your hut so as not to disturb Dave.

“Heard something interesting happened to Dave at the training area today, Jeff.”

“Interesting is one word for it… my heart stopped seeing Dave fly through the air; I feared the worst. But he’s just fine. He’s resting at the minute because the training tired him. The leg’s fully mobile now, but the gunshot wound damaged a lot of muscle; it won’t be as strong as it was. He can’t carry his mace and shield for very long, so he gave them to the militia. They can use them better than he can now. Lots of very strong, very committed fighters there.”

“So how come he wasn’t hurt?”

“We’ve talked about it, aren’t really sure. The Marking perhaps; maybe Dave’s mutating more than we realised; maybe both; possibly something else entirely. Mancers aren’t the only folk who look human, but are actually Mutants. Whatever else, he’s fine; that’s all that matters to me. How’s Zach? Not seen much of him around.”

“Tied up in the negotiations following the news from the Beacon. Abundance, Noctis, Mutant Valley all trying to sort out their diplomatic relations; not helped by Abundance having been unsettled by Colonel Viktor’s shenanigans and the Vory trying to muscle in on the act.

“Zach’s the ideal person to lead the talks; it’s not that he’s completely impartial, but he does at least have good relations with all the factions involved. There were other possibilities, Dandolo for one; but you could never accuse Dandolo of not having an agenda.

“Zach does find it all tiring; his memory’s not the best, so he has to take copious notes and, well, he and I do a lot of talking in the evenings, going through stuff that Zach’s not been able to deal with on the spot. It’s a big load on him… on us… but he is the ideal person for the job, so we put up with it.”

“Why don’t you get involved directly in the negotiations yourself? Especially if Zach needs a hand. You have a real way with words, and people trust you.”

“No fucking way; I cannot be doing with any sort of organisational bullshit. Got a big dose of that in the Source when I was growing up; and look where it left me. Apparently negotiations for access to one particular stretch of one particular shadow path took three days… include me out!

“One thing was agreed very early, though: the Dust are free to travel wherever they wish; they can ignore all borders. Scum, of course, proposed and advised on this; and Zach, knowing the two of you, was in full support, so it was easy to get agreement. Made us realise how important it was to provide for your people, even though there are so few of you.

“Zach’s in it for the long haul, though; and, when it’s over, folk on Mars will owe him a lot. You and I realise that already, of course.”

“Dave’s got very fond memories of you on the sand-sail trip to Noctis a while ago.”

“Yeah, and it’s mutual. Neither of us was in a good place on that trip, though. Dave was devastated having to leave you; I was seething still about the way the Source had treated me; think we cried on each others’ shoulders a lot. We both hurt, but for different reasons; so we could help one another out. It’s a good way to get to know someone. And just like me and Zach, you and Dave are very different people who are good together. And both Zach and Dave are difficult on the surface; but they both have enormous hearts.”

  


A while later, a really important event takes place. Sand appears briefly in Mutant Valley; she’s arrived for Zach’s negotiations, simply to say that the Dust have no concern whatsoever for them. Politics, power, serum, borders: all these mean nothing to the Dust. And the Dust have no hierarchy; no ruler, except the Desert. But Sand is known and spoken of all over Mars, so is here as representative of her people. But simply because others think she is: she would never say that herself.

She was, of course, offered good comfortable accommodation in Mutant Valley; and she, of course, decided simply to stay at Dust Corner, sleeping under the sky. She is accompanied by the granddaughter with whom she has a Bond. And she, like Dave, is naked, her Marking a pale white across her chest like a bird with its wings outstretched in flight.

You are, by now, used to Sand’s voice coming from someone other than her. You happen to be near the main gate when Sand arrives, and escort her towards Dust Corner. When its inhabitants spot her, there’s an excited murmur and laughter. The Dust never stand on ceremony with those they admire and respect; instead, there is joyous celebration at being in one another’s presence. You’re still ten metres or so away when Dave waves and calls, “Hey, Rookie!” And Sand sees his Marking for the first time.

Greetings over, Sand inspects Dave’s Marking carefully; she is astonished, then delighted. The words are hers, but the voice is of course that of her granddaughter.

“This is a happy day. No-one living has seen this Marking before, and we feared that it had been lost forever. But we tell tales and sing songs of it still. Much that was known about it has been lost; I think you will have to find out for yourself what the Marking has to give. Only one thing is remembered, and that very clearly: that this Marking gives a blessing.

“It is a blessing, not just for the person carrying it, nor for the one to whom they are Bonded; not just for the Dust, or even the Mutant peoples. It is a blessing for all Mars. But what it will mean at this time, we do not know. You have a journey ahead of you: to find the meaning of this Marking. For our part, there is only joy that it is with us once more.”

And she makes the Gesture of Respect.

  


  



	16. The Endless Desert

Dear Mom and Dad - A lot has changed since I last wrote. For one thing, the tyrant Viktor is dead, and I hear that life in Abundance is returning to normal after his reign of terror. So now I can tell you the truth: the ASC had forced me to spy for them, saying that they would hurt you if I didn’t co-operate. Long story short, our Lieutenant, Zachariah Mancer, found out and, rather than killing me, let me flee to Noctis. I wrote my first letter from there. Jeff recovered completely, thank the shadow.

I’ve currently in Mutant Valley, recovering from my own injuries in the fight against Viktor. I was badly wounded in the leg, but Jeff is a skilled surgeon and an excellent nurse, and I’m almost back to full strength. Long story short again, but I was there when Jeff killed Viktor.

You’ll remember that Jeff knew a lot about the desert; turns out that he was actually a member of the Dust. I’ve joined that community as well: Jeff and I will be exploring an area mentioned in Dust legend, but not visited in living memory. I suspect that we shall be travelling for at least a year, so it will be some time before I can write again.

There’s no easy way to put this, so I’ll just say it straight: I have begun to mutate. My mutation is what the Dust call a “Marking”; they say it gives wisdom to the person who has it. We shall see. Obviously it’s not safe for me, as a Mutant, to visit Abundance at the minute; I hear there’s still resistance even to the idea of freeing Mutant slaves.

I’m pleased to hear that the Army is now better-respected in Abundance; there’s talk that military pensions will be back at their former level soon. So I hope that will fix your financial problems for good. Serum has no meaning to the Dust, so I’m sending every drop Jeff and I have left with this letter.

Jeff is of course with me; I know that we shall always walk side by side. He tells me to send you his love, Mom. Know that every day I think of you both. 

Your loving son, David.

  


“So, finally heading off this morning for the big trip, Rookie. Got everything?”

You’ve both been waiting for this moment: the time when you can head out and begin your expedition into the legendary area nearby. You’ve both been too excited to sleep much, and are awake early. But then Dave adds, “Still have an hour to go before there’s enough light… gotta suggestion for you. Probably the last time we’ll sleep in a bed for a very long while… let’s enjoy it one more time.”

At which you laugh with delight. But you can’t resist teasing. “David Ward, do you ever stop?”

“Not when you’re around, Rookie, no, I don’t. Don’t ever…” A kiss. “Ever…” A kiss. “Ever…” A very long deep kiss. “Stop.”

  


You’re wearing your loincloth and have your bow and a light quiver of arrows on your back. You’ve also stowed your knife and a few medical supplies there. Dave is naked and carries nothing except the Marking.

You’ve headed past the sentries at the main gate and are walking towards the Desert away from the city’s lights when you hear a voice behind you.

“David; Jeff; I came to wish you well on your journey.” It is Scum. He speaks gently; it’s the first time you’ve seen him smile. “Most folk are asleep, but sleep is something I always find elusive. I know we’ve only seen each other in passing, but… I wanted to say how much inspiration you have given me. For you, as humans, to learn and walk the ways of the Dust… the peoples of Mars need to learn that they have nothing to fear from each other, and so much to gain. You are an example of that to us. 

“Like Phobos, I believe that it is our destiny to leave behind being human, if we ever thought we were, and embrace the fact that we are Martians. That is a journey that you too have undertaken, perhaps without realising it. I hope there will be many others who currently view themselves as human, but who will seek the wisdom that you have found in the Desert, and with the Dust.

“And it has been good to see you carrying the Marking openly, David. When Mutant Valley was tiny and unknown to the outside world, the Wise walked naked in our streets. This became… less easy, with folk arriving who were unacquainted with our culture. But I hope that, when you return, you will continue to wear your Marking as you do now. Markings gain their real power only when they are fully displayed. You will find that your Marking becomes as warm as clothing and as strong as armour.”

“I imagine you will be gone for many months, perhaps some years. You are both strong, and both wise in your different ways. And the Bond between you is unbreakable. I know that you will do wonderful things. And please remember: Mutant Valley will always provide you with a home whenever you want it.”

  


A few kilometres from the city, Dave notices a Signpost: it’s so faint that you can hardly see it however closely you look. But once Dave has talked you through what he sees, there is no doubt. The original person who wore the Marking was renowned for Clear Sight; it’s obvious that Dave has the skill.

The Route from the Signpost goes up a fairly steep slope, and leads to a rocky platform overlooking the valley; Dave bounds up easily, holds down a hand to help you over the last rocky step and onto the platform. Then he pauses, surprised.

“Something strange going on, Rookie. Think my vision’s changing… What the fuck?”

“Remember you’re Clear-Sighted, Dave. This happens to folk like you. What can you see?”

“Just weird. At one level, I see the Desert exactly as it is: the dry valley beneath us, the monochrome sand, the bare hills, the parched air. But I see something else alongside that. There’s a wide river flowing slowly down the valley floor; immense trees on either side of it, and the soil underneath them carpeted with bright flowers; more plants climbing up the sides of the hills; the cries of many birds and animals; the air damp and fresh with the passing of a shower of rain. Got any idea what this means?”

“Think we’d need to go back to the Site of the Dancing Gods and consult the Wise there to be sure. But based on the little I know: you’ve seen another Mars. But no-one knows whether that Mars is in the past, or in the future, or both; or whether that Mars is part of the life we’re in, or another one. One thing is very clear to me: what you’ve seen is a blessing.” And you make the Gesture of Respect.

You’ve always loved seeing Dave naked, of course, and you’ve enjoyed the sight so very many times. But there’s something special about his nakedness these days. You remember Scum saying that Dave’s Marking would be as warm as clothing, as strong as armour; and looking at Dave now, you can believe it.

“We’ve come a long way, haven’t we, Rookie? Remember when you first took me into the Desert and I didn’t even want to take off my Army boots? And now I’m here bollock-naked; I’m completely comfortable, and I’m right at home. And I’m with you.”

There’s a happy pause. Then Dave takes your hand; and the two of you walk on together.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> #### Thanks and acknowledgements
> 
> My first thanks are due to Spiders for their game “The Technomancer”. I’ve inspected much of this game very carefully whilst working on this fic, and, not only is it a superb game; the overall structure holds together very well indeed.  
> This fic would never have been written without the ideas, encouragement and support of everyone on “The Spiders Games Fans” Discord server; thank you all! This fic is for you.  
> The fic’s title comes from the game by Hazelight; in it, two disparate men have to work together to achieve their goal. I’ve not yet played the game, but the plot seemed to match Dave and Jeff’s story as told here, and the name seemed very apt.  
> Finally, thank you for reading this! This work has taken me an enormous amount of time to write, and will probably have very few readers; none the less I’ve really enjoyed the very different experience of writing a large fic (my longest previous work is less than a tenth of this size!). It’s really been worth it.


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